The Forgotten Doctor
by Morgan d'Arc
Summary: Abandoned and forgotten by his family, Naruto will discover his prodigal talent in poisons and medical skills. He will prove to his former family and the village that he can be a strong ninja without the help of his parents. Abandoned Naruto, Grey Naruto, Medic Naruto, Poisoner Naruto. League of Legends and Soul Eater inspired Naruto.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

**AN: Greetings! This is my second story. For any fans of The First Illusionist, don't worry I'm still updating it. I decided to try my hand at Abandoned! Naruto. Naruto will be basically the exact opposite of canon Naruto. He will have good chakra control, specialize in healing and poisons, and be much colder than his canon counterpart. This Naruto is inspired by Kabuto, The Doctor (AC brotherhood), Dr. Mundo (League of Legends), Tsunade, Crona Gorgon, and Sasori. Naruto will be one year older than team 7. I know abandoned Naruto is a bit cliché but I hope everyone likes my take on it. If you have any criticisms or suggestions please review and I'll take them into consideration! Thank you.**

 **I do not own Naruto, Assassins Creed, or any of the references used in this story.**

 **Warnings – death, neglect, Orochimaru shenanigans, Mundo level steroids, and blood**

 **The Forgotten Doctor**

Chapter 1: Forgotten

(Kohona – 6 years after the Kyuubi Attack)(Naruto POV)

It had been six years since the Kyuubi attacked Kohona. The Third Hokage had sacrificed his life to seal the Kyuubi into his twin sister, Shio Uzumaki. Many would believe that his life would be better with a life without being an orphan, without the kyuubi, and without the hatred of the village.

They would think wrong.

Naruto Uzumaki had spent six years of his life being neglected and slowly being forgotten by his parents. It used to be small things, such as forgetting to call him for dinner, ignoring his suggestions when going out, and never tucking him into bed at night. Eventually however, the neglect had gotten worse. His parents began to forget him more and more and eventually even forgot his birthday. The people in the village seemed to forget he was even the son of their Hokage and ignore him like any other faceless orphaned child of the village.

After his forgotten fifth birthday he began to truly raise himself. He cooked his own meals at odd hours to not interact with his family and started to read books on ninja basics. He studied the basics relentlessly to prepare for the academy at age eight. He knew he couldn't count on his parents for training, if he couldn't trust them to remember his birthday how could he trust them to train him?

He knew that they had already started training Shio at age five. When he asked them to help him train they simply glanced at him and told him he would be trained at the academy and Shio needed extra help to control the Kyuubi. It was at that point he lost all faith in his parents and he started to not even call them that in his head. He eventually started to leave the estate and train on his own.

He soon learned he had a knack for chakra control as he mastered the basic leaf sticking exercise on his fourth try. He eventually got so good at the exercise he could stick more than ten leafs to his body at a time. However he knew he would need more instruction than just basic scrolls. He soon started sneaking into Minato's library and stole numerous scrolls on the basics. As he completed more of the chakra control exercises he learned that unlike his mother and sister he did not have too much chakra. He still had an above average level for his age, as expected of any Uzumaki, but not enough for it to be unmanageable.

He was reading a specific exercise called tree walking. There were no trees large enough in the estate to really learn the exercise so he excited the gate and went to the surrounding forest of the Uzumaki Estate. He packed a backpack full of items that he would need, a change of clothes, some food, some kunai, shuriken, a bedroll, and some jutsu scrolls from minato's private library. He was planning on sleeping outside tonight and get away from the estate, it's not like they would remember him anyway.

He reached his usual training clearing and prepared to get to work. He had stolen some useful jutsu from Minato. He had stolen the instructions for: Kage Bushin no Jutsu, Kage Shuriken no Jutsu, water walking, tree walking, Kawamari no jutsu, Henge no Jutsu, Bushin no Jutsu, and a stolen Suna scroll on how to create chakra strings. He had also managed to find some of Tsunade's training scrolls on medical jutsu. He assumed that it was a gift to Minato that he never used. He knew that some of the jutsu were beyond him at the moment. He barely had enough chakra to create one kage bushin. But he figured out with just one kage bushin he could train twice as fast and increase his reserves at the same time.

He already knew what he wants to focus on in his ninja career. Whatever Minato and Kushina were bad at he would specialize in. He knows that Minato and Kushina are really bad at medical arts, genjutsu, and poisons. He only wished that Tsunade hadn't left the village after she healed Kushina from the extraction of the Kyuubi. Though he was doubtful that Tsunade would want to teach him, most likely she would just focus on Shio like Jiraiya and Kakashi.

He quickly got to work on tree climbing. He knows that theoretically if he masters tree climbing he can master any jutsu or at least that's what it says in the description. After several tries he found that tree climbing was not that hard. He did not know if it was because of the level of difficulty of the exercise or if he just had good control of his chakra.

He trained with tree walking for several hours, slowly being able to walk up the tree without much focus. After his 50th repetition of the exercise he was quite exhausted. He knew it was thanks to his inherited Uzumaki stamina that he had managed to last for so long. As he drank some water he decided to visit the library (a place of solace for him when the neglect gets too much). He wanted to read some medical textbooks to try and get an early start on his medical education. He wanted to at least by able to patch up basic wounds by the time he enters the academy.

He enters the library and smiles at the old librarian. The librarian, Yui Haruka, is a retired chunin of the village, with graying brownish hair, large thick glasses, she looked like every other common grandmother. She had been a friend of Naruto since he had started coming here at age 5. She was one of the only villagers who actually pays attention to him. He walked silently to the medical section. Many of the more advanced books were safely stored at the Hospital, however there were many books that explained basic medical practices left in the library for aspiring students. The library also had a wide selection of anatomy, botany, biology, and science textbooks for civilian students. Naruto proved his prodigious intellect as he understood the medical texts. After recovering enough chakra he had already made a Kage Bushin and had it read a book on the human anatomy while he read the basics of medical chakra.

The book described medical chakra as purified spiritual energy. This purified spiritual energy enters the dead or dying cells of the target and reactivates them, quickly healing the target. However one must have great chakra control and mental focus to use these techniques because an over flux of medical chakra could kill the cells instead of healing them.

The book mentioned some famous applications of healing chakra, such as Tsunade's legendary strength by separating her chakra into spiritual and physical energy. He decided that one of his goals would be to eventually recreate Tsunade's strength.

He looked out the window and sat that it was getting rather late, the library would be closing soon. He released his clone and closed his eyes to absorb the information from his doppelganger. It appeared that the clone discovered all of the pressure points of the body, the seven critical spots of the body, and what the chakra system looks like in the human body. It was quite fascinating.

He returned to his spot in the woods and after eating a light meal of bread and cheese, went to sleep.

(The next day – 6 AM Village Forest)

Naruto woke up to see it was very dark and cloudy today. It was probably going to rain. He quickly packed all of his belongings in his pack and quickly ran back to the estate, hoping to miss the rain. As he was about to open the gate he noticed something wrong right when he tried to open it. It would not open. Growing slightly desperate he tugged harder on the gate.

It remained firmly closed.

He tried to think of why the gate wouldn't open and his eyes widened. Today was October 1st. Minato always re-drew the seals on the estate by the end of each month. One of the seals identified who was allowed into the estate by their chakra signature. Minato must have forgotten to input him into the defenses. He knew that Minato would already be in his office, and that Kushina would be making breakfast for Shio soon. He stood there for a few minutes silently as it started to rain.

He looked up at the sky and saw it was starting to pour, drenching him. He knew he was finally fully forgotten by the Namikaze family. He wondered why this information hurt him as much as it did. He knew this day would occur eventually. Ever since his 5th birthday he had been preparing for the day his parents abandoned him. He had stocked enough non-perishable food at a cave near the glade he trains in to last him at least two years.

As he stood there in the rain his anger and hatred grew for the family. He would not beg or yell at that man to let him back into the house. He didn't care that he had no resources or backing from any family anymore. He decided to get revenge on his former family. He knew that this goal would be nearly impossible. The Namikaze-Uzumaki family was loved throughout the land of fire. Minato was loved by the Daimyo and would never hear a bad word against him. He also knew that when Shio entered the academy no one would say anything bad to her.

However he didn't care, he would gain revenge in any way he could. The only possible method to do so in his eyes was to be better than Shio. If he was better than Shio he could prove to everyone in the village he didn't deserve to be forgotten. That he was just as important than the princess of Kohona.

He started to walk back to the forest knowing he had to find shelter from the rain. He knew of a cave near the glade he was in that he can take shelter in. After the rain passes he could figure out what to do.

(Hidden Cave 7 AM)

As he rested inside the cave he used some chakra control exercises to dry his clothes and body from the rain. He had rarely entered this cave, never finding much need to. The cave was the perfect hideout. The natural formation of the trees and shrubbery effectively hid the entrance while a rock formation around the cave hide it from view even further.

But now it was his home for the foreseeable future and he decided to explore it. As he walked down the cave he noticed that the floor was gradually getting smoother and the walls more box shape as he slowly walked deeper into the cave. Eventually he arrived at a steel door, slightly rusted with age. He tried to open the door but it was locked. He used a trick he discovered from breaking into Minato's library so often. He formed a small chakra string and inserted it into the lock. He started to pump chakra into the string and it expanded into the shape of the key. Slowly turning it he heard a click and the door opened inward.

The room inside looked like an abandoned laboratory, filled with jars of animal parts, preserved plants, and many other unknown objects. He looked around a bit more and found a desk next to a distilling station with a journal resting on it. He started to read some of the first pages.

 _January 5_ _th_

 _I recently found a cave that will be perfect for my poison and medical studies. Here I will be able to start my path to power._

 _The Snake Sannin – Orochimaru_

 _January 10_ _th_

 _I have begun testing on small animals my snakes have brought to me. Many of my poisons are still too…messy. I have begun to experiment with different venoms and plants to create the perfect poison._

 _February 2_ _nd_

 _I have done it! I have made the perfect poison. After several minutes of applying the poison it remains completely undetectable for several hours before the animals die of a heart attack. I cannot be sure if the result will have the same effects on humans. I do not wish to be discovered by bringing local bandits to this laboratory. Perhaps some of the children of the civilians of the village can assist me in my projects._

Naruto nearly dropped the journal in shock, he had found one of Orochimaru's hidden laboratories. He knew who the snake sannin was through Minato's library. He had read about the monstrosities this man had committed against the citizens of Kohona.

However, as he stared at the journal he knew this could be the key in giving him an edge over Shio. He knows that Shio will be getting tutoring from at least four kage level ninjas. By the time shio graduates she will probably be high chunin level, even more so if she proves to be a prodigy like her father.

He knows to be better than her he would need a serious edge. An edge that could be gained from this laboratory. But could he lower himself to accept tutoring, even indirectly, from one of the most monstrous missing nin in the elemental nations? He looked at more of the passages in the journal, all describing horrific experiments and poisons that could kill anyone. He contemplated on how far he would be willing to go for his revenge. He looked around the lab seeing all of the tools available to him if he accepted this dark path. He started remember all of the times his family had forgotten him:

He remembered when his family went to the Kyuubi festival forgetting him at the house.

He remembered watching his family eating dinner, all laughing together as a family.

He remembered watching from his window as Minato and Kushina began Shio's training, forgetting him entirely.

He finally remembered him standing out in the rain, completely forgotten and abandoned.

Naruto looked around the lab once more, seeing instructions for high level poison making, high level medical techniques, chemistry sets, gas masks, syringes, and then looked to the far wall where three practice dummies were kept and imagined the faces of his family on them, never looking at him and treating him like a stranger and he felt his hatred grow further. He looked at the journal in his hand and accepted the fact that he was going to walk down this dark path. He walked to the door and closed it. Locking it from the inside.

And when he exited the laboratory, he would be a changed person.

 **AN: I hope everyone enjoyed the first chapter of my new story. Ever since I started to read fanfiction a year ago I've wanted to write a Naruto neglect story. A neglect story leaves so many options for change in the world to write in. I hope everyone likes my take on the genre.**

 **Next time: Training and Academy**


	2. Chapter 2: Training and Crazy Snake Lady

**AN: I am quite shocked at the reviews I am getting for this story. I'm glad so many people like my story after only the first chapter. Thank you for all the helpful advice and recommendations. I want to reassure everyone that Naruto will not turn into another Orochimaru. He will act somewhat like shippuden Sasuke. To answer a few questions and suggestions:**

 **Wrytha: Thank you for your suggestions, each one is a really good idea. I am not planning on Naruto doing any human experimentation, he will be grey, not dark. At best he will experiment on some animals such as mice, dogs, and cats. Naruto will learn a fighting style in combination with Tsunade's strength. It will most likely be Kabuto's chakra scalpel fighting style. I have not given Naruto's summons much thought. I am definitely not going the cliché phoenix, dragon, or snake. I am actually considering your spider idea, they would be the perfect spies and poisoners.**

 **Ncpfan: Thank you for your support and recommendations. There will be a force controlling Minato and Kushina, however I will not reveal it now (dem spoilers).**

 **Gunslinger666: Last chapter was just the prologue, there will be dialogue in this chapter.**

 **Now enough with the boring AN! On to the story!**

 **Chapter 2**

 **Training and The Crazy Snake Lady**

(Hidden Laboratory – Konoha)(5 months after the start of training)

Naruto was obsessed. He had learned much in the five months he had begun studying in the laboratory. He had learned almost all of the basic poisons from the ingredients he was able to locate from the surrounding forest. He had relentlesslt worked on his chakra control with the tree walking and water walking exercises. He now was able to summon three shadow clones to train alongside of him. One shadow clone would work on chakra control while the other two continued their medical and poison studies.

He had finished reading Orochimaru's journal. He was absolutely disgusted by some of the experiments conducted by Orochimaru. Apparently he would experiment on humans and catalogue their reactions to his poisons.

He learned to prevent queasiness after the first chapter.

However, he kept telling himself that he needs to continue this path to continue his dream of revenge. After the first few months of studying Orochimaru's poisons he was almost glad that Orochimaru had finished his experiments before he was forced out of Konoha. His effort is his benefit.

His poisons seemed to have more uses than just killing. He seemed to divide his poisons into three categories: Fatal, Non-Fatal, and other use. His fatal poisons were among the most numerous. Ranging from poisons that would kill you upon injection to poisons that could remain docile for days before killing the target.

His non-fatal poisons were very wide ranged. The effects ranged from sleeping draughts to bottled madness (think the berserker poison from AC). Some of the poisons even did the reverse of poisons and seemed to heal the drinker. He wondered if those poisons would be better classified as elixers.

The section that really interested him was the other-effects. The section seemed to be dedicated to enhancing the body through poisoning oneself. However some of the poisons had strong side effects. One even turned the body into a mummified husk after the effects wore off. He decided to not try any of these poisons until he had a much stronger body, mind, and much more chakra control.

The journal mentioned that if one constantly poison oneself with minor venoms it could help negate poisoning oneself. His indirect sensei wrote that it would help build up the immune system. He soon found however that most minor poisons had almost no effect on him. He assumed this was due to being a half Uzumaki. Abusing this genetic trait he constantly poisoned himself with minor to medium level poisons, gradually increasing his resistance to different venoms.

He had also found several books on sealing in the laboratory. He contemplated learning the art a long time, since it was Minato's speciality. However as he reviewed some of Orochimaru's greatest works he realized he would need a good foundation in sealing to accomplish them. Such as the legendary curse seals that were briefly mentioned in the journal.

Before he knew it five months had already gone by in the laboratory. He had mastered most of the basics of being a ninja. His chakra control was high genin level. His medical skills were enough to be able to patch up most minor wounds. He had learned to create many of the basic to medium poisons listed in the several texts that Orochimaru left behind.

However he knows that the basics were not enough and that he needed to learn more advanced techniques to defeat his sister.

(Namikaze-Uzumaki Estate – Konoha)(5 months after Naruto left)(Shio POV)

Shio had learned much from her four tutors. She was already starting the basics of Kenjutsu, chakra control, handseals, and sealing. Despite all of the positive attention from the villagers and her parents she was not spoiled. Her kaa-san would murder her if she acted like a spoiled clan heiress. However, She still acted arrogant around other children. She deserved to act arrogant because she was better than them.

Her tou-san had introduced her to a new chakra control exercise yesterday, the tree walking exercise. She was having a lot of difficulty completing it. Her tou-san always told her that it was because of her large chakra reserves. But she had already gotten half way up the tree. She bet no one has been able to complete this exercise faster! She knows she will be super strong by the time she is ready for the academy! She would beat down all of the other students and make her way to becoming Hokage! Dattebayo!

(Forest of Death – Konoha)(1 year and 5 months after the start of training)(Naruto POV)

It had been one year since Naruto had mastered the basics. He had grown a little and was now age 7 and a half. He had changed greatly over the year. Due to lack of sleep and from being around so many poisons his eyes had lost their pupils **(I have no idea if this is possible but so many Naruto characters don't have pupils so I assume that is the cause)** and his hair had gone from a sunny blond to an almost white color. Due to careful combing his hair had gradually lost its signature spikiness and he had grown his hair in two long bangs on the side of his face with a short ponytail. He was now wearing a hooded fur lined coat, black shinobi pants, black medical wrap around his arms, and dark green shinobi sandals. He carried a satchel lines with storage seals to carry all of his supplies (it's a satchel not a purse). He also wore a gas mask loose around his neck, almost acting as a face mask as it covered half his face.

Thanks to injecting himself with so many poisons, his blood was very toxic. He had discovered this when he had accidentally cut himself and it fell on a rat he was experimenting with. The rat had suddenly started to convulse until it died several minutes later. He had also discovered that due to the toxins in his blood, it was now a pure black color.

He had created a new identity in the village. He put himself down as an orphan named Menma. He had also signed up for the Academy. He had contemplated just leaving the village but he had nowhere else to go. Iwa would rather kill him than let him join their village. Kumo would put him into a breeding program. Suna was allied with the leaf. And he didn't even want to think about Kiri with their civil war going on. Besides, how could he gain his revenge against the Namikaze family if he was in a different village?

In the present, however, he was searching for rare plants that were required for his latest poison in the Forest of Death. The Forest of death was named this for a reason, however due to the toxin in his blood most predators left him alone because they could smell he was dangerous and inedible. As he continued to walk into a clearing full of nightshade, a beautiful purple plant that looks like lavender (just 10 times more deadly) he jumped back as a kunai flew past him into the ground. He drew a scalpel and injected a little medical chakra into it to allow it to cut easier. As he was preparing for a fight he heard a female voice laugh mockingly "Hehehehe. Does the ickle gaki want to play with me? The little gaki is not supposed to be here."

Naruto looked around cautiously, trying to pinpoint the voice and spoke in his usual monotone voice "Who are you, the gate was open when I arrived at this forest so I assumed it was aloud." It was true, the side gate to the forest was wide open when he was trying to break into the forest.

From her hiding spot in the trees, Anko Mitarashi sweatdropped as she had forgotten to lock the gate before she had entered the forest. But she wasn't going to let any gaki talk back to her. She quickly shushined right behind the gaki and pointed a kunai at his cheek, going for full creepiness factor 10. She spoke seductively/menacingly in his ear and said "Well Gaki my name is Mitarashi Anko and you better remember it. Now why don't you tell me who you are and why you are in this forest when it is usually restricted to Chunins and Jonins."

Naruto's eyes widen a bit, Mitarashi Anko is the name of Orochimaru's apprentice in the village. If he played his cards right this could go very good or very bad. He decided to be at least partially truthful "My name is Menma, and I am searching for rare plants to continue my studies."

Anko deadpans at the seven year old and goes to creepiness factor 11 and uses her favorite jutsu to summon a snake to scare the kid and chuckled "Your telling me that some brat like you goes into the forest of death to find some plants for a science project?"

Naruto's eyes narrow a bit and started to explain what he was looking for "I'm searching for some nightshade to mix with the venom of the poisonous tree leafs often found in this forest."

Anko whistled at the potency of that venom and commented "And what would a gaki like you want with a poison that could kill a grown man in a few seconds?"

He smiled slightly and said "It's for my fighting style, I am training myself in poisons and medical jutsu."

Anko's eyes widened a bit at that information. He was teaching himself poisons and medical jutus? Those two fields were some of the most underestimated fields of being a ninja. Most people just liked flashy ninjutsu or fancy taijutsu. Her eyes gleamed a bit as she looked at the young prodigy. Her creepiness factor was increasing to level 12 as she licked her lips as she stared at Naruto like a predator.

He was starting to get a bit nervous as he looked at the gleam in Anko's eyes. He had heard her reputation around the village for being a bit crazy. He started backing away slowly and smiled nervously "W-well I'll go.." As he started to walk away he felt a hand clamp down on his head and he gulped nervously.

Standing behind him is a shadowed Anko giggling creepily "hehehe well gaki if you want to be a poison user you can't find a better sensei than me!" What most people did not realize about Anko is that she always wanted a student to teach her arts to. She wanted to give a student the chance to succeede that Orochimaru stole from her when he abandoned her with the curse mark.

"So prepare yourself Gaki you will be under the supervision of the Great and Sexy Mitarashi Anko until you graduate from the Academy!" She dragged him back into the forest laughing the entire way.

Naruto's only thought about the situation was 'How did getting caught in the Forest of Death lead to this!?'

(The Academy – Konoha)(Initiation ceremony for all new and returning students)

Training with Anko-sensei was a tortur… -caugh- interesting experience. He had thought he had trained hard before but Anko's training took the cake. She played games in the form of training with him. Outrun the giant snake before it eats you, identify the hidden poison in all of your food, dodge the kunai, and her personal favorite of hide and don't get caught or you will be stabbed.

He can't argue with the results though.

His situational awareness level had increased exponentially. He could now be aware of his situation at all times even if he was asleep.

In addition Anko helped him with his toxic blood problem. She had told him it was a side effect of trying to build up one's immune system too fast. She tought him a jutsu that would de-toxify his blood when not in battle, and would increase its potency during battle.

She also taught him the Hebi style of combat which went excellently with his chakra scalpels and poisons. The hebi style was similar to the Hyuuga's gentle fist except that instead of injecting chakra to one's opponent the user injects poison through the user's attacks. The style also tought him to be extremely flexible to get into one's guard.

Despite the harsh training they eventually became good friends. Near the end of their training he told Anko his true heritage.

(First flashback)

It was the final day of training and they were both relaxing in one of the large branches in the Forest of Death. Anko had brought some sake and dango for them to share (One stick of dango for Naruto and the rest for Anko). Naruto was contemplating whether or not to tell Anko his heritage. She had earned his broken trust during their training and he felt slightly guilty for lying to her. He sighed and began to explain to Anko "Hey Anko, I wanted to tell you before our training ends that I haven't been exactly truthful, I am actually the forgotten son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki.

Anko looked at Menma (his fake name) and laughed "HAHAHA yeah good one gaki." She laughed for a bit until she saw his serious face and frowned "Wait your serious?"

Menma/Naruto nodded and started to tell her his life story, of being forgotten by his parents, finding the laboratory (he did not say who last owned it) to the present.

She was stunned at first and became thoughtful for a second "I just don't get it, I've seen the hokage's family and they act like the perfect family. I am a master of psychology and even I know that parents don't just abandon one kid over the other for a small thing like training one sibling."

Menma frowned, he did read some psychology books and his parents did not behave as normal parents would. He pushed those thoughts to the sides and focused back on his ideas of revenge and commented bitterly "I guess they are the exception and they just didn't want a son."

Anko patted Menma's shoulder comfortingly and commented, "Well it seems we both had sucky childhoods then, well our training is at an end for now, the academy is starting soon. I know you don't need it but good luck gaki!" She poofed away in a shushin, taking the remaining dango with her."

(End of Flashback)

He sighed and started to walk into the entrance to the academy, ready to finally prove to his family that he is not worthless.


	3. Chapter 3: The Academy and Team 9

**AN: I am starting to get suspicious that my reviewers are reading my mind. They seem to keep coming up with my ideas that I am planning for the story xD. Anyway, I will answer some of the questions presented in the reviews:**

 **Ncpfan: I am not planning on having the Namikaze family remember Naruto till around the Chunin exams.**

 **Plums: The first few chapters will have more explanations than dialogue to build Naruto/Menma's character. When he graduates there will be much more dialogue. The Namikaze neglect will be explained in future chapters. In terms of the villagers ignoring an orphan, Kabuto was able to spy for years with only a genjutsu on his headband to cover the fact he is a spy. I highly doubt the higher brass will care about an orphan when he already registered with the people in charge of registering orphans.**

 **Zastaf: I won't spoil Naruto's team but I am planning on Naruto developing some acidic jutsu. He will be slightly similar to the 4** **th** **mizukage in his acidic attacks. In addition, Naruto will be gaining a summoning contract near the Chunin exams. I won't spoil what summons I am planning however.**

 **Personal Note: I am not using salamanders as his contract. It would be very difficult to have him summon salamanders. As best as I know the contact is currently in the hands of Pein and the Akatsuki. However, the summons that I am planning will definitely be as interesting.**

 **Personal Note 2: Naruto will be in Neji, Tenten, and Rock Lee's generation. He will not be in Shio's graduating class. As I said before, the Chunin exams will be where everything goes down.**

 **Now done with the messages and on to the story!**

 **Chapter 3:**

 **The Academy and Team 9**

(Konoha Academy)(Menma's POV)

The opening ceremony for the Academy is an honored tradition amongst the shinobi and civilian families. It was a time to meet the teachers, scout potential talent, and hear the Hokage's speech. The adults usually congregated around the teachers, asking questions and reviewing the curriculum for their children. The older students would congregate in their already made groups while the younger ones met new people and formed new friendships.

Menma looked around the festivities, feeling slightly bored. He was not here to make friends or mingle with other students. If coming to the ceremony wasn't mandatory for all new students he wouldn't have bothered to come. Soon ten AM was approaching and everyone took their seats to hear the Hokage talk.

Menma glared at Minato as he took the stage, he barely looked different in the two years since he last saw him. As Minato rambled on with his speech of the will of fire and protecting the village he looked around at the rest of his classmates. It appeared as if at least one of each major clan was attending. He even saw the illusive Kurama clan heiress among the people attending. He had heard of the girl, apparently she had awakened a special bloodline that turned her illusions real, at the cost of creating a separate personality. Though thanks to the quick actions of Kushina and Minato the alternate personality was sealed and she could become a shinobi.

He sighed as Minato's speech ended and they all were called in for the first day of the Academy. As they took their seats the teacher started rambling on about the will of fire and the grand history of Kohona.

He sighed, this was going to be a long four years.

(Academy: Konoha)(Four years after Menma started the academy)

It had been four long years since Menma had started the Academy. It had proved to be a wonderful waste of time for the majority of the day. However he didn't complain. He knows that the academy was necessary to join the Ninja ranks. He had not changed his outfit much in the last for years. He now wore a tan colored trench coat (a gift from Anko) his gas mask on his neck, a black muscle shirt and anbu style pants along with regular shinobi sandals.

He was the rookie of the year for all four years, much to the chagrin to all of the clan children. People were sometimes comparing him to Minato, who was an orphaned rookie of the year as well. He had not shown all of his abilities during the academy, instead demonstrated himself as a rising prodigy as a med-nin and poison specialist. He had revealed Anko's training as a way to cover up the skills he did demonstrate. Right behind his spot is Neji Hyuga, a boy who kept telling him that his success is fate and that he was destined to be rookie of the year.

Yeah he didn't make friends with Neji.

However he surprisingly did make a few friends during his time at the academy. He had made friends with Yakumo Kurama and Rock Lee. Kurama was the Kunoichi of the year and Rock Lee was the dead last. He had already figured out that these were to be his future teammates by reviewing the previous graduating classes. Every year the rookie of the year and the kunoichi of the year team up with the deadlast. He supposed they balanced each other out, a taijutsu specialist, a genjutsu specialist, and a medical/poison expert.

What he did not know is that in the Hokage's office they were having a meeting about the teams right now.

(Hokage's office)(Minato's POV)

All of the potential jonin senseis were in the room along with the Hokage and academy teachers as they reviewed the graduates of the year. Minato cleared his throat and began the meeting "We have thirty potential graduates this year, I am glad the academy curriculum has managed to produce so many potential ninjas." The academy professors glowed with pride that they were able to teach the next generation.

"Now lets start with team 1…" They discussed the teams briefly and matched personalities until they arrived at team 9 "Now we have the team of the rookie of the year, the kunoichi of the year and the deadlast."

The teachers nodded and Iruka Umino stepped forward with the bios and information from the three students "First the deadlast, Rock Lee is a very dedicated student but has no ability to wield chakra to produce major ninjutsu or genjutsu. He is able to do the basic three academy jutsu and reinforce his body with chakra but that's about all he can do. However he is a very dedicated student and a budding taijutsu master under the tutalege of Maito Gai, who has been training the boy since the second year of the academy." He turned the page on his folder "The kunoichi of the year, Yakumo Kurama is a prodigy in genjutsu almost on the level of the missing-nin Itachi Uchiha. She is rather weak in taijutsu but is excellent in ranged weaponry especially when combined with her illusions." He flipped to the final page "And finally the rookie of the year Menma, an orphan but has proved to be a prodigy in poisons and medical ability. He has worked part time at the hospital during his academy years and the only thing preventing him from being an active medic is his age and lack of chunin status. He is also incredibly skilled in taijutsu with Anko-sans fighting style. He has told me he has had private training with Anko in the past." Everyone shivered at that information except the kunoichi in question, poor kid. Iruka put down the folder at the hokage's desk and minato perused the information on the three students.

He found Menma interesting. As an orphan himself he knew how hard it was to make it to rookie of the year without any help. However it seems like he had a similar relationship with Anko as he had with Jiraiya. He looked up as the team sensei's ended their discussion on who would be best as their sensei. Anko stepped forward along with Gai and Anko spoke seriously "I would like to be sensei of this team, they would make an excellent assassination and escort team with Menma's poison skills, Lee's taijutsu skills, and Yakumo's genjutsu abilities." She stepped back a bit and Gai started to speak, "I would like to be allowed to continue to tutor Rock Lee privately in Taijutsu. I do not question Anko's ability to teach him, but he already has a firm foundation in the Strong Fist fighting style."

Minato processed this information. It was a good idea, Anko already had experience with Menma while the other two could benefit from Anko as well. Rock Lee would not be neglected due to Gai's insistence on training him. He nodded and pressed his seal of approval on the team "Accepted, team nine will be composed of Menma, Rock Lee, and Yakumo Kurama. The sensei of the team will be Anko Mitarashi."

All of the teachers and future senseis nodded and left the room. Minato frowned and looked down upon Menma's page. He was curious about Menma, what were the chances an Orphan would be named after a ramen ingredient like his daughter, Shio? And why did he feel a pang of guilt every time he looked at the face of Menma?

What no one else knew is that behind the bars of a large cage in a sewer, a large fox chuckled to himself as he watched through Shio Uzumaki's eyes and waited to see the result of its interference.

(Kohona Academy)(Menma's POV)

Menma was seated alongside Yakumo and Lee as they waited for the teacher to announce the teams. Soon Iruka Umino came into the room and took out a sheet of paper and started to list the teams.

(1-8 unimportant)

"Team 9 will be Rock lee, Kurama Yakumo, and Menma. Your sensei will be Mitarashi Anko." Menma smiled slightly as Yakumo and Lee cheered.

"Team 10 will be Neji Hyuga, Tenten, and Mito Gekko. Your sensei will be Hayate Gekko."

Iruka set down his papers and smiled at all of the graduates "I have been very glade to be your sensei for these past few years. I hope everyone's dreams come true and that everyone's will of fire will never diminish.." Iruka was about to continue before a canopy smashed through the window and attached two kunais to the black board. On the canopy read " **The Sexy and Single Mitarashi Anko: Sensei of team 9!"** At the bottom of the canopy stood Anko in a dramatic pose "Alright all you Gakis I want to see team 9 up on the roof in five minutes!" She poofed into smoke soon after the announcement leaving the entire room stunned for a few seconds before team 9 stood up and made their way up to the roof.

(Academy Roof)(Menma POV)

The trio arrived at the roof to see Anko munching on some dango as she grinned at them "Alright you three, name your names, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future, that sort of thing."

Yakumo looked at Anko's outfit a bit scandalized but spoke in a respectful tone. "Shouldn't you introduce yourself first sensei?"

Anko grinned again and swallowed the rest of the dango and started her introduction "I am the sexy Mitarashi Anko! My likes are poisons, torture, blood, tea ceremonies, and my cute little gakis. My dislikes are a certain snake, bad dango, bad sake, and arrogant assholes. My hobbies are working at the T&I division and hanging out in the Forest of Death. My dream is to kill a certain snake. Now it's your turn Gaki 1.

Yakumo looked a little affronted by the nickname but continued anyway "My name is Yakumo Kurama. My likes are genjutsu, painting, and riceballs. I dislike my alternate personality Ido, and a certain person. My hobbies are painting and studying genjutsu. My dream for the future is to be the best genjutsu user in the elemental nations."

Anko looked at Lee "Alright and you big brows?" Lee jumped excitedly and spoke quickly "Yosh! My name is Rock Lee! I like taijutsu, Gai-sensei, training, and curry! I do not have many things I hate but I dislike natural born prodigies! My hobbies are training and making curry and my dream for the future is to surpass Gai-sensei as a taijutsu specialist!"

Anko nodded at that information and turned to Menma "And finally you Gas-kun?" Naruto scowled slightly at the nickname but said calmly "My name is Menma, no last name. My likes include poisons, gardening, ramen, and books. My dislikes include a certain family, people who look down on medic-nin, and arrogant people. My hobbies are gardening, training, and studying different poisons and there effects. I do not have a dream for the future but more of an ambition, I plan on becoming the greatest medic-nin and poison user in the elemental nations."

Anko smiled widely at their introductions and gave them their first instructions "Alright then my cute little gakis tomarrow we will have the true genin test at training field 9. Lee looked confused "True genin test sensei?"

Anko smirked at Lee "Of course, you didn't think to become full-fledged genin you just needed to just past a written test and some basic jutsu did you? Meet me at the field at 8 AM and if your late its straight back to the academy!" With those words she shushined away in a whirlwind of leaves. Naruto looked at the jutsu and thought to himself " _I really have to learn that jutsu."_

Naruto looked at his potential teammates "We should be well rested for tomarrow so make sure you go to bed early and eat a good breakfast, knowing Anko-sensei this test will not be easy." Yakumo and Lee nodded and they walked off in different directions, each thinking and preparing for the test the next day.

 **AN: And that's chapter 3. I hope there is enough dialogue in this chapter, been reading some complaints about the lack of it. However the introductory phase of this story is officially over. Next chapter we will see Naruto's fighting style and how he works with his teammates. I considered making Naruto an only apprentice to Anko but thought that would be really strange for an orphan to get preferential treatment like that. I hope everyone liked my choice of teammates. Fyi Mito Gekko is an OC and is the child of Hayate Gekko and Yaguo Uzumi. She will primarily be a sword user.**

 **Next time:**

 **True Genin Exam and D-ranks!**


	4. Chapter 4: Genin Exam and D-ranks

**AN: Greetings everyone. I hope everyone is satisfied with the team I chose. I decided not to put Naruto in Shio's generation because there would be an odd person out. I would either have to make a five man team or make Menma an apprentice. Menma is an orphan so he is very unlikely to be allowed an apprenticeship. By placing him in the previous year's graduating class I can make a more unique path to the chunin exams. I am sure almost all of the readers are tired of reading the Wave Mission arc. Anyway I've been reading the comments and you people really want your summoning contract. I hope when I eventually get to that part of the story no one will be disappointed with my idea. I am pretty sure it's going to be unique.**

 **I have also been getting some requests for Naruto to wield a weapon. I am not planning on giving Naruto a heavy duty weapon because I am tired of in almost every Naruto fanfiction where he gets a sword and suddenly neglects his more unique skills. He will use basic ninja tools as well as a few gadgets to help him inject poison into his enemies. I have also been seeing some reviews that state I do not have enough dialogue. I will state again that the first three chapters were introducing the world and naruto's abilities. From here on out there will be much more dialogue. Another thing that I have noticed is that people are asking about the pairings in this story. –sigh- I am terrible at pairings. However this will not be a harem story. I do not want to corrupt the story by filling it with Naruto acting like a playboy. If he finds romance it will be with a faithful partner who can heal his pain from his abandonment. I will throw up a pole for a pairing to decide. I will end the pole by the end of the Chunin exams.**

 **One last comment is it seems that some people are disappointed in Kyuubi's involvement in Naruto's abandonment. I do not see how this is cliché. In almost all abandonment fics I read the namikaze family abandons Naruto because of the prophecy of the toads. I've only read one where the kyuubi is involved.**

 **Now that I'm done with the boring announcements, on with the story!**

 **Chapter 4:**

 **True Genin Exam and D-Ranks**

(Training Ground 9 – Kohona)(Menma's POV)

Training ground 9 was traditional for the genin team 9 to practice in. It was a basic training field surrounded by dense forests and an open field in the center that featured as the training ground. It was nearing 6:40 in the morning when Yakumo, Lee, and Naruto arrived at the training ground. They had each come a bit early to plan for the true genin test. Naruto started off the planning "Alright, I have known sensei for quite a while. She is an all-round fighter who uses primarily stealth attacks to kill or injure her opponents. She has the ability to summon snakes to aid her in battle. She is also one of the few poison specialists in the village besides myself."

Both Yakumo and Lee nodded at the information and Yakumo commented "I suggest with the information we have on sensei is to use a distraction. Lee will distract sensei while I layer illusions while Menma finishes her off." Menma nodded at the sound plan, it probably would not work against a jonin like Anko but it was the best they had.

Lee raised his fist to the sky and shouted "Yosh! With the power of youth there is no way we cannot pass this test!" Yakumo and Menma sweatdropped, it was clear that he had already been corrupted from Gai.

Suddenly he felt a chill as if someone was walking on his grave. He quickly knocked back his teammates and deflected the incoming kunai with a scalpel. Scowling a bit he sighed and spoke out loud to the woods "Oi, sensei do you have to throw kunai every time we get together?"

Anko shushined in front of the group grinning widely "Well Gaki its good to see you havn't lost your touch in the time we have been away from each other. If you had I would have to beat those skills back into you."

Menma shivered a bit knowing she was being completely serious "What is our test today Sensei?"

Anko grew serious and began to explain the test "I was going to do a special test for you gakis. However, it is tradition for the two rookies of the year and the dead last take the bell test." Anko took out two bells and attached them to her waist "The purpose of this test is to take these bells from me, the person who does not have any part of a bell will return to the academy."

All three students tensed, it went without saying that there were only two bells. Anko grinned evilly at them "You have until noon which is in three hours, you may begin!" All three students jumped into the surrounding forest. Anko looked around the forest and smirked, she may not be a sensor like Kakashi but..

A green garden snake was staring at Menma from behind

A black snake was staring at Yakumo

A blue snake stared at Lee from the bushes

They can't escape her snakes.

(Training Ground 9 – Surrounding Forest)(Menma POV)(3 hours until test is over)

He knew there has to be some sort of trick to this test. He had reviewed the previous team rosters from the Hokage's personal library. There had never been a three member team unless it was for a double apprenticeship, which rarely ever happens. He thought back to Anko's words 'Any part of a bell' and he smirked clever sensei but not clever enough. He jumped through the forest searching for his teammates.

(Training Ground 9 – Open field)(Lee POV)(2.45 hours until test is over)

I jumped into the field to confront our sensei. I would not fail Gai-sensei and will get a bell or I will do 500 laps around Konoha on my hands! I arrived at the field and took my stance in front of Anko-sensei and smiled widely "Greetings sensei I will take one of those bells now!"

Anko sweatdropped at his loud entrance "You're not very smart are you gaki?"

Not answering Lee dashed at his sensei at high chunin speeds and jumped in the air in a spinning kick "Leaf Whirlwind!"

Anko easily dodged the kick and kicked Lee's side as he passed, breaking his spin and tossing him away. Lee jumped up and ran at Anko and was about to punch her when she was replaced by a log. 'Kawamari?!' he though as he looked around for his sensei. However, as soon as he turned around the log poofed and was replaced by Anko who kicked him in the back into the woods. She quietly chuckled to herself, she never thought that any idiot would confuse kawamari for henge (In another dimension Naruto sneezed). She looked down at a snake in the grass and it whispered information to her. Her grin widened, she knew her favorite gaki would understand the test.

Now they just had to get a bell from her.

(Training ground 9: Surrounding Forest)(Menma POV)(2 hours till test is over)

He had quickly found Yakumo hiding near his location and told her his theory about the test. She had believed him and they quickly went to find Lee. They found him getting his ass kicked by Anko sensei. It was a good thing that she was going easy on him. Last time he made a stupid mistake like that she had copied Kakashi's one hundred years of pain with a kunai and explosive tags. They quickly gathered Lee and explained the situation to him. He was quick to agree that they needed to work together and they started to hash out a plan. Menma brought out two sealing tags and handed them to his teammates "We don't have time to make you two immune to my poisons so wear those on your chest, they will filter out the air and prevent poison from entering your lungs."

Yakumo took one of the tags and looked at Menma's gas mask "Why do you wear that if you have these tags and when did you learn sealing?"

Menma didn't even look sheepish as he stated seriously "It looks more badass than wearing a sealing tag. Plus those tags do not last forever, these will last around two hours max. I learned some sealing from Anko-sensei (a lie but they didn't need to know that). These anti-poison seals are mandatory for any poison user to carry." They both nodded and they started their plan.

(Training Ground 9: Open Field)(Anko's POV)(1 hour until test is over)

Anko was standing in the center of the field when three syringes flew from the surrounding forest. She quickly dodged them but noticed three explosive notes wrapped around them. "Shit" she cursed as they exploded. As the smoke cleared a broken log was on the ground. Menma rushed out into the field with his chakra scalpels activates and rushed at the now revealed Anko in a Taijutsu match. He thrust a glowing palm at Anko as she dodged the thrust and retaliated with a high kick to the head. He ducked backwards beneath the kick and sprang up from the ground in a backwards cartwheel kicking Anko in the chin in the process. As he landed on his feet he jabbed at Anko's exposed throat with his scalpel. However before he could get near her throat she kneed him in the stomach then kicked him away from her. She quickly spun around and back handed Lee who was about to punch her in the back. Soon she was countering a barrage of taijutsu from Lee and Menma. She smirked a bit and caught both Lee and Menma's fists and spun around throwing them in opposite directions. "Not bad gakis but your 100 years too early to beat me in close combat." As Menma and Lee were falling their pained grimaces turned into smirks as a small smoke bomb near Anko's feet exploded.

The field suddenly got filled with purple smoke. Anko who was in the middle of the blast started coughing a bit and felt her limbs starting to become heavier. As she was coughing 'That damn gaki made a paralyzing poison that can affect me?!" She quickly went through hand-signs and used a wind jutsu to push the poison away from her. As soon as she could see again Menma was in front of her, a syringe on each finger covered in chakra scalpels. She took out a kunai and channeled chakra into it to deflect the jabs and slashes of Menma's needles. She had to duck as Lee proceeded to do another Leaf Whirlwind at her back and jumped out of the way as Menma slashed at her with his scalpels.

Suddenly she felt a shift in the air as she fluxed her chakra and her two students disappeared and Lee's kick was about to contect to her face while Menma was nowhere to be seen. She bent down unnaturally to dodge Lee's kick and caught a small dart in her hand that was about to enter her neck from behind. Menma emerged from the woods again, his gaskmask was on his face and a blowpipe sticking out of a section of the mouth piece that was previously hidden behind his gas mask.

Anko grinned at her two students "Not bad gakis but not enough to take me down."

Lee was about to charge her again when she pointed her arm at him and yelled "Sen'ejishu" and snakes wrapped around lee and she dragged him to crash him into Menma who was charged at her from behind. She shuckled a bit before her eyes widened, her perception had switched, it felt as if she was doing a handstand and looking up at the sky. She smirked a bit, what a nice genjutsu. She closed her eyes and with sound deflected and blocked the attacks from her two students as she continued to flux her chakra to get rid of the genjutsu. Suddenly she opened her eyes as she dispelled the genjutsu and dodged the attacks of her students before kicking them away from her. She smirked a bit as she saw them struggling to get up. What she was not prepared for was when Naruto suddenly shouted "NOW!"

In the forest Yakumo had just finished a painting of Anko Locked a bind of steel beams and injected chakra into the painting. In the middle of the field Anko suddenly froze as she saw steel beams wrapped around her body. Both Menma and Lee rushed to the bells. Anko, unable to free herself from the real illusion could not react as both bells were taken from her.

She smirked as all three of her students stood in front of her, all smiling while Lee and Menma had the bells. She looked at all three of her studants "Alright you gakis, Lee and Menma have a bell, so it looks like Yakumo is going back to the academy."

Menma smirked a bit and used his chakra scalpel to cut his bell in half and gave it to Yakumo "You never said we could not split the bells sensei. And besides, this test is not about getting the bells but working together."

Anko started laughing loudly "HAHAHA! I can't wait to see Kakashi's face when he learns that my students passed his precious bell test! You were right Menma, the point of this test was teamwork. I am proud of all of you my cute little students. But for now I need to report the results to the Hokage. Why don't you all treat yourself to something nice for lunch while I do that." She poofed away in a shunshin.

All three genin members grinned at each other. Lee was shouting about youth and how he made Gai-sensei proud. Yakumo was glowing with happiness that she proved her old sensei Kurenai wrong and became a genin. Menma smirked to himself as he took off his gas mask, he was now a genin one year before his sister. He could not wait to finally show his former parents what he could do by defeating his sister. Menma turned to his teammates and smiled a bit "Why don't we go out for some sushi, if we all pitch in we can get some of the good stuff." They all smiled to each other again and walked to his favorite sushi bar.

(Hokage Meeting: Konoha)(1 hour after the successful genin test)

All of the jonin sensei's that had already tested their students came into the room to discuss their results to their Hokage. Soon when all of the sensei's were gathered they announced their results:

Team 1: Failed

Team 2: Failed

Team 3: Failed

Team 4: Failed

Team 5: Failed

Team 6: Failed

Team 7: Inoku Yamanaka, Choju Akimichi, and Shiori Nara passed.

Team 8: Pakura Aburame, Hibiki Izunaka, and Tojuro passed.

Now it was Anko's turn: "Team 9: Rock Lee, Kurama Yakumo, and Menma passed."

Finally Hayato walked forward and said: "Team 10: Mito Gekko, Neji Hyuga, and Tenten passed."

Minato nodded smiling, four teams had passed this year, which is one more than the usual amount of students to graduate. He also noticed that team 9 had passed. He knew that team had been given the bell test and he was curious to see how they did "Thank you everyone for your hard work. I will be seeing the sensei's of the passed teams here tomorrow for your first d-rank assignments. I would like Anko to stay behind for a few seconds please." Everyone nodded and looked at Anko confused as they left the room.

Minato picked out the files of team 9 "I wanted to hear your opinion of this team. It is rare that a bell test is passed." The bell test was notorious for having the highest number of failures. It was for this reason that it was reserved for only for the team with the rookie and kunoichi of the year.

Anko nodded "Yes Hokage-sama, I believe that this team can be a very strong fighting force in the future. Lee and Menma were keeping me on my toes with their taijutsu and poisons while Yakumo kept me cornered with their genjutsu. If I was high chunin or even low jonin I may have lost the battle, not just the bells."

Minato looked a bit surprised, after all it's rare to see a genin team have so much potential. He looked at the folders and couldn't help feeling pride for Menma, but he was not sure why. He looked back at Anko and smiled "Thank you Anko-san, I will see you tomarrow to hand out your first D-ranks."

Anko smiled evilly and laughed "Can't wait to see the looks on the gakis faces then they first do D-ranks!" She continued to chuckle evilly out the building, scaring to death the people she passed through the building.

(Hokage's office – Konoha)(1 day after the genin test)(Menma POV)

Team 9 and their sensei were waiting for their first mission as a team. They were all excited for their first mission. They were standing in front of the chunin who gave out D and C ranked missions. The chunin sorted through the D rank scrolls until he pulled out a mission "Team 9, the daiymo's wife's cat Tora has gone missing, it is your job to retrieve it."

All of the genins on team 9, even Lee, deadpanned at the chunin. Menma sighed, already expecting this from seeing all of the genin teams do meaningless tasks around the village.

After several hours of chasing the damn cat they returned to the office, heavily battle wounded by the smug looking cat in Yakumo's arms. The chunin chuckled a little bit after they completed the mission and took a look at the remaining scrolls "Well the only missions we have left for the day are weeding Miss Haruka's garden, repainting an elder's house..." outside the room they could hear a commotion and a womans voice yelling shrilly "NO! Tora!" the chunin sighed, "And catching Tora again."

Team 9 sighed as one as they accepted another D-rank.

(Training field 9 – Konoha)(1 month after Team 9's first d-rank)

It was an entire month of hell for team 9. In the morning they would constantly train with Anko and then do boring d-rank missions for the rest of the day. It was not until after their 40th D-rank mission that Anko had them gather at training ground 9. Anko faced her team "Alright gakis, tomarrow we are going on our first C-rank mission. I want all of you to get a good night sleep tonight and be well prepared for the mission. We will probably not be back for a week or two.

The three genins looked excited and nodded as they left to prepare for their first real mission. Menma arrived at his apartment that he had bought with his money from the d-rank missions. He looked at the mirror for a bit before wiping the makeup off his cheeks, revealing three whisker like marks. He did not know why he was gaining these marks. Only his sister had these marks and she was the Kyuubi container. However until he figured out what was happening he would keep these marks hidden. He sighed, only two more months until the chunin exams. He knows he can't partake in the exams. He knows that Minato would never let his daughter not partake in the first chunin exams after she graduates.

He was in luck, the next chunin exams was in Kumo. He could make an easy argument not to take the exams this time. He also figured out that Neji's team would not participate because of the history between the Hyugas and Kumo. He smiled grimly, it was just a matter of time before he faces against his sister.

And at the end of it, he would be the one standing over her, and gaining his revenge by humiliating that man's daughter in front of the entire world.

(Inside Menma's mindscape)

Menma's mindscape had taken the form of a large pond surrounded by trees. In the center of the water two glowing red eyes appeared, slowly taking shape from the water. Finally a small fox with one tail emerged from the water and smirked, the chakra he had injected into the kid had finally managed to allow his consciousness in was finally large enough. Before he was sealed in the brat Shio he had injected some of his chakra into the other kid, Naruto something. He had used that little chakra to place a genjutsu around anyone of his blood to ignore him. This allowed his plan to succeede. Without his consciousness in the seal, the Juubi could never be revived unless both his consciousness and chakra were in the Gedo Mazo statue. It was just an added bonus that he could gain his revenge against all the years chained to a giant moon in Kushina's mindscape.

He looked at his small body in disdain, he would grow fast from the excess chakra in his new host's body. However he would not be at full strength until Naruto reaches the age of 16. He slightly regretted making the kit's life so bad, but in order to defeat Madara the deception was necessary. However, the kid had grown strong away from his parents and with his chakra they could train to defeat Madara while Shio will be the bait. He knew that Naruto would be a better host because only he knew that he was the reincarnation of Asura, not Shio.

He chuckled and delved back into the pond, knowing that it wasn't time to reveal himself to Naruto…no Menma yet.

 **AN: And the truth is revealed! Kurama escaped the seal by sacrificing most of his chakra into Shio. I hope this plot twist satisfied the naysayers about it being cliché that kyuubi is the cause of his abandonment. Anyway, here is the pole for the pairing:**

 **Naruto x Shio (Naruto will eventually forgive Shio and the rest of his former family for the neglect but they won't be one big happy family. This is kinda incest because they are related by blood, but they do not have an attachment between brother and sister)**

 **Naruto x Yakumo (A bit of an expected development seeing as she is Naruto's teammate.)**

 **Naruto x Anko (If she is not picked Anko will probably be the mother figure of Naruto)**

 **Naruto x Ino (doubt this will be popular but Ino does run a plant shop)**

 **Naruto x Other (if you pick this please name the char you wish for the pairing)**


	5. Chapter 5: Death of Spandex and C-rank

**AN: Greetings all! I am pleasantly surprised at the responses this story is getting. I hope I continue to meet everyone's expectations in the future. In terms of the pairing in first place so far is Yakumo, while Shio is in second place. I've gotten a lot of feedback that Anko would be better as a mother/sister figure. I have to agree with the reviewers on that point, so I am taking Anko off the poll. To anyone who voted for Anko I apologize. Anyway time to answer some questions from the reviewers.**

 **Emilbootanimefreak: Kyuubi uses a genjutsu similar to Kotoamatsuki. Kyuubi is a kitsune, and anyone who knows Shinto mythology knows that kitsunes are known for two things, fox-fire and illusions. I am using the same principal here. I saw another question that asked what about jiraiya and kakashi and why they would neglect Naruto. Jiraiya is rarely in the village, when he was he was presented Shio to train. Kakashi on the other hand was constantly interacting with Shio while gradually spending less and less time with Naruto. Both naturally eventually forgot about Naruto.**

 **LadySonics: A poison user is inherently a good trap user. However, instead of using pranks as traps he will use traps that are equipped to him. For example his hidden blowpipe, poisoned fingernails, some special seals, etc.**

 **Mystolen: You are the first person to criticize this story and I am happy that you are judging my story without bias. I would like to say that poison/healing abilities are not weak. Tsunade and Kabuto prove that medical jutsu can be devastating while Orochimaru and Sasori are the king of poisons. Mei Terume used the acid release to become the Mizukage. In terms of chakra control, he is still a genin and was training without a proper sensei. Sakura did not have perfect chakra control until after shippuden and that was with special training from Tsunade. I am not making my character op by having perfect chakra control from the get go. Healing chakra is made from yin release, which is the spiritual energy component of Chakra.**

 **Calebros: Kyuubi was there when the original sage of the six paths sealed the Juubi into the moon. Therefore he has an inherent knowledge of how to revive the Juubi. He knows Madara's plan from the time he was under Obito's control. As for the revenge on Kushina… wouldn't a person who cares about family forced to unknowingly abandon their child be the perfect revenge?**

 **Personal note: The team 7 and 8 of this generation are not going to have a significant impact on the story. The only OC I'm planning on interacting with the Canon characters is Mito Gekko. Team 7 and team 8 will become chunin in the first chunin exams, leaving the spots open for the canon genin teams, such as team 7 under Kakashi and team 8 under Kurenai.**

 **Personal Note 2: not a really important note but Menma prefers sushi to ramen, ramen reminds him of his old family and he lost his taste for it.**

 **Once again thank you for your kind and informative reviews and I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

 **Chapter 5:**

 **Death of Spandex and The Butcher**

(Moritomo Sushi Bar – Konoha)(6:30 AM)(Menma POV)

Menma was sitting with Lee and Yakumo at their favorite sushi bar as they discussed their first C-rank. Menma finished a fatty tuna shishimi before he spoke "The mission will most likely along the lines of escort or assassination, Anko already told us that's what our team was built towards."

Yakumo gulped a bit "I can't believe we will really have to kill already. I know we have learned about it during the academy but the actual knowledge that your about to do it…its scary."

Lee nodded solemnly "Yes it will be harsh blow to our youthfulness, but it is required to become stronger as ninja."

Menma chewed a bit more before looking around "I wonder why our sensei called us here, our c-rank isn't for another four hours."

Anko arrived at their booth and sat down, stealing a salmon shishime from Menma "Well gaki, we are here for a very important mission that could be critical to our survival in the future."

All three genin's gulped a bit as they heard that. Anko suddenly tied Lee up "We are getting rid of this spandex and getting you a real ninja outfit!"

All of the genins and some of the other diners at the restaurant sweatdropped. Lee suddenly started stuttering "B-b-but Anko-sensei, Gai said that this outfit will increase my youthfulness and unlock my full potential!"

Anko started dragging Lee out of the restaurant chuckling a little bit "The only thing that outfit will increase if your changes of death on an assassination mission."

Menma and Yakumo quickly paid for their meal and ran after his sensei and unfortunate teammate. They found the master and unfortunate student at a popular clothing store for shinobi where Lee was still tied up crying crocodile tears as Anko picked out an outfit. Soon she picked out an outfit and Sparta kicked Lee into the room after untying him and gave him the outfit for him to wear.

Soon he came out of the dressing room and everyone gaped at Lee. He was wearing a dark green tight latex sleeveless muscle shirt with black shinobi pants, combat boots, and arm guards with latex fingerless gloves underneath. (Think Lancer's clothing from Fate/zero). Anko grinned smugly as her choice in outfit was definitely the right one. Anko grabbed Lee and rushed out of the store while yelling "Now to the barber shop!"

Menma and Yakumo chased after the rapidly disappearing duo. Soon they arrived at the konoha barber shop and entered to see Lee tied to one of the chairs and surrounded by evilly chuckling barbers. Menma deadpanned at his sensei "What is going on here?"

Anko grinned down at Menma "Well it seems that they have been wanting to destroy that horrid bowl cut and eyebrows of his ever since they saw him on the streets a few times. They said he was on their head hunting board" she pointed to a wall where there were a bunch of photos of different men. On top of the wall said "targets." Some of the most predominately displayed were Kakashi Hatake, Jiraiya of the sannin, and Maito Gai. Underneath Gai there was a picture of Rock Lee crossed out with a red marker.

After thirty minutes a new Lee was revealed. They had trimmed his eyebrows so his eyes did not look so wide anymore. His hairstyle was now wavy in places with one strand of hair going down his forehead (Lancer's hairstyle). Both Menma and Yakumo gaped at Lee, where had the weirdo green beast go?

Lee looked forlornly at his green spandex suit in his hands and looked at Anko "Sensei…are you sure this will allow me to become a better ninja and expand my youthfulness?"

Anko grinned at Lee "Sure kid, that outfit will definitely help you become a ninja."

Suddenly Lee's face brightened and he shouted "Yes sensei! I will become a strong ninja with this new look, if I don't I will do 1000 laps around Konoha!"

Menma smirked a bit, there he is.

(Hokage's Office: Konoha)(Menma POV)

Team nine were standing in front of the Hokage's desk. Minato sat behind the desk along with two chunin helpers and was looking at a few scrolls in a box labeled C-rank. However, before he could pull out a mission Anko stepped forward "Hokage-sama, I would like to request a hunt."

A hunt was a group of mission set aside to allow genin teams used to killing. These missions usually involved destroying bandit camps around the Land of Fire.

Minato raised his eyebrows and looked over at the determined team, he saw no hesitation among the genin and sighed, he always hated this part of being Hokage, forcing young kids to make their first kill. He looked at team 9 "Alright then, your mission will be to destroy the bandit camp that was reported outside of the small town of Qixiang near the border of the land of earth. Do not worry about Iwa shinobi, we have a peace agreement with them so if you encounter any they are unlikely to engage. The mission should take around two weeks to complete.

Team 9 nodded and excited the room to prepare for their first C-rank.

(Menma's Apartment – Konoha)

Menma finished packing his supplies, he was bringing two changes of clothes, food in preservation seals, around 100 different vials of poison with labeled effects, his medical equipment, kunai, shuriken, senbon, darts, and some small arrows for his latest weapon. He rolled the sleeve of his trench coat a bit and looked at the device Anko had gifted him with.

(Flashback 2 weeks ago)(Menma POV)

Menma was practicing a water ninjutsu exercise given to them by Anko-sensei. She had tested their affinities and Lee had lightning, Yakumo had earth, and he had water. Anko had commented that despite not being able to do jutsu, Lee could still produce nature chakura and could eventually infuse his punches and kicks with lightning chakra similar to the Raikage.

Anko had Yakumo practicing some defensive earth style ninjutsu.

She had informed him that his water attacks could be a good combination with his poisons. Many poisons can become more toxic when exposed to water or evaporate in the air when upon contact to it. She had him practicing the water gun-shot technique (which was the opposite of the fireball jutsu) and water prison jutsu. Both were basic C-rank water ninjutsu but could be used very effectively with his poisons.

However before any of them could use the jutsu effectively they needed to train in their elements. She gave Lee a leaf and told him when it was crumpled into a small ball he would be given the next step. Yakumo had to turn her leaf completely into ash while he had to extract all of the water from the leaf.

He was around the midway point of extracting the water before the leaf crumpled, proof that he messed up again. He sighed and looked up as Anko walked up to them carrying three scrolls. Team 9 stopped their training exercise and approached Anko. Sensei gave one scroll to each of us and explained "Well gaki's good knews. Your wonderful and sexy sensei has decided to gift all of you with a weapon. For Lee I asked Gai to give you one of their nun-chucks."

Lee's eye's widened, the Maito family was famous for their nun-chuck wielders. It was said that Maito Bruce was able to go head to head with the second Hokage with nothing but a pair of his nun-chucks. Lee unsealed the two nun-chucks and span them around a bit before grinning widely.

"For Yakumo this is a joint project between Menma and I." She un-sealed a tanto and handed it to Yakumo. This dagger is inbued with a mix of several different poisons that will kill a grown man in around a minute with a scratch."

"And finally for Menma." She unsealed a very odd crossbow. It was small and attached to a fingerless glove. The glove seemed to have a reloading device that would automatically reload the crossbow. Anko grinned a bit "This little beauty is an item I found a few years ago at a random shop in the Land of Snow. The bolts loaded into it are unpoisoned but (she handed him a quiver of small arrows) you can poison whatever you want on these which you can load manually." Menma nodded and put on the contraption. He looked around and noticed a target a few meters away. He pointed the arm mounted crossbow and fired rapidly at the target, each hitting in the inner circle. He gave a small smile and thanked his sensei "Thanks sensei, this is great."

Anko saw the small smile and smirked, it was hard to get that kid to smile.

(End Flashback)

At 1 PM all the members of Team 9 arrived at the gate and greeted each other. Soon their sensei arrived and they jumped into the forest at high speeds, each mentally preparing for what they're about to do.

(Forest Surrounding Qixiang: 12 PM– Northern Land of Fire)(Three days since Team 9 set out from Konoha)(Menma POV)

Team 9 was hiding in the trees looking over the bandit camp. The camp was hidden in a clearing surrounded by trees north of Qixiang. They were discussing their plan to wipe out the bandits. Anko began to tell them the plan "Alright, I want Yakumo to maintain a genjutsu around the camp to prevent their escape and to remain undetected. Menma, spread your poison gas around the camp. Lee, when Yakumo and Menma complete their tasks I want you to go in and start killing the guards. Then we will all enter at the three entrances to the camp to kill the rest of the bandits." Every one nodded.

(Yakumo's POV)

I got into position at the east entrance and quickly began to go through some handseals and whispered "Temple of Nirvana." Soon all of the guards around the camp saw feathers in front of their eyes and fell asleep.

(Menma POV)

He crouched upon the largest tree at the southern entrance and manually inserted a syringe into his crossbow and fired them to critical spots around the bandit camp. Soon the camp was littered with syringes.

(Lee's POV)

Lee arrived at the west entrance to the bandit camp and took out his nun-chucks and breathed deeply before activating a seal on his tongue to filter out the air from the poison.

(Anko's POV)

She stood silently away from the camp observing their progress and was impressed. These gakis were doing pretty well on their first time. She frowned a looked a bit to the north. Her snakes had picked up a large man approaching the camp they were about to attack and she was worried.

(Menma's POV)

Menma fromed a handseal and whispered "Katsu!" and all of the syringes he launched into the camp exploded with a noxious purple gas throughout the camp. He quickly put on his gas mask before running into the camp to help Lee who was already battling some of the coughing bandits. He rolled under a wild swing by a bandit and shot him with a crossbow bolt before peppering the bandits around lee with arrows. Not to waste arrows he quickly activated his chakra scalpels and started to kill more bandits.

(Lee's POV)

Spinning his nun-chucks around at startling speeds he broke bones and necks of bandits around him as he entered the camp like a whirlwind, striking at any bandit he could see and avoiding any of the wild strikes of the bandits coughing from the poison in the air.

(Yakumo POV)

Grabbing the tanto from the sheath on her left shoulder she quickly entered the camp, cutting any bandit that got too close to her as she started to seal any supplies and stolen goods the bandits had. She would return all of the stolen items to the village after this was over.

(Menma POV)

Soon no bandits remained and bodies were littered around the camp. He closed his eyes a bit as he heard Lee and Yakumo throw up in the forest after their first skills. He knew he should feel worse about killing for the first time. But a part of his humanity died a long time ago when he first picked up Orochimaru's journal. He wished he felt worse about killing the bandits. But all he felt inside was a hollowness that he couldn't describe. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he flinched before opening his eyes and saw Anko with a hand on his shoulder "You okay Menma?" In the back of his mind he realized this was the first time she had called him by his name instead of brat or gaki. He nodded slowly "I will be fine…it will just take a bit to get used too. Anko nodded, understanding.

However before they could leave back to Konoha Anko suddenly grabbed us and sushined out of the way as one of the largest men that He had ever seen slammed a huge mace on the ground cracking it heavily and kicking up a bunch of dust. When the dust settled the man was revealed to team 9. He was a giant of a man at 7 feet tall and was heavily muscled. He had scraggly dark brown hair and a large beard. He carried a large two handed mace with an anvil sized head. On his forehead was the symbol of Iwa with a slash crossing it. He chuckled deeply at their ready stances "So four tree huggers think they can beat me?"

Anko narrowed her eyes "Rogan the Butcher, A rank missing-nin known for slaughtering entire towns in the land of fire during the last war. Went rogue a couple of years ago since he Tsuchikage signed the peace treaty. What are you doing in this area?" behind her back she made a few hand signs to her team.

Rogan grinned darkly "I was just about to have fun in the town nearby. I heard there was a bunch of scum living there and I wanted to clean it up. But here I am with a bunch of newborn genin ninjas and a whore Konoha kunoichi. This will be fun." With those words he lifted his mace and quickly swung it at me. I jumped away from the mace firing bolts from my crossbow at high speed but most of the arrows were deflected as he spun his mace around.

We all charged at Rogan but he simply grinned again and started spinning around with his mace forcing us all to get back before we were clubbed.

He stopped spinning suddenly and kicked Yakumo away from him into the woods harshly. Lee yelled "Yakumo!" before having to dodge a fast swing by Rogan but ended up getting back handed by him straight into a tree and was knocked out. I quickly went through some handseals and used one of the few ninjutsu he learned from Orochimaru's notes he cupped his hands together and converted some of his chakra into poison and a small black ball appeared between his hands and he shouted "Dokujin no jutsu!" and a large blast of black smoke appeared from his hands straight at the butcher. Rogan saw the cloud and quickly went through some hand seals and clapped his hands together. A wall of earth separated him from the poison cloud.

As the cloud hit the wall the wall started to dissolve. Rogan quickly charged at Menma with his anvil. Menma activated his chakra scalpels and Anko drew two longer than normal kunai and they engaged him in taijutsu. They were locked in combat for around two minutes before Rogan slammed the handle of his mace into Anko's stomach before knocking her out with another hit from his mace.

Seeing his sensei fall made something snap inside of Menma. He unsealed a syringe from a seal on his wrist and injected it into his arm.

Rogan was confused as Menma injected something into himself.

Time seemed to slow and all Menma could hear was a heartbeat steadily speeding up. He started frothing at the mouth a bit and his eyes turned pure white.

Rogan looked a bit alarmed at this development and charged at Menma preparing to strike him down before he finished whatever he was doing. However as he struck the genin his mace hit blackened skin and his mace was stopped dead. Soon this darkness was spreading all across Menma until he was completely covered except his eyes and a jagged smile played across the things mouth.

The poison that he injected himself with was one of Orochimaru's more brilliant creations. He took the venom of the chakra eater. A special type of mosquito that inject its poison into its victim that absorbs its chakra. He took a syringe full of it and injected it with the chakra of several beastial creatures from the Forest of Death. He also mixed it with the venom of the fossilized snake, a snake that hardens the chakra system with its venom when it bites an opponent. When injected into a human, the results are what is displayed. The venom causes chakra to harden in the chakra pathways and allows the human body to become invulnerable and have the senses and fighting instinct of a predator. In exchange one has no control over their body until the effect wears off.

Rogun was hard pressed to do anything against the beastialized Menma as he constantly guarded the clawed attacks of Menma. Soon several cuts and scrapes dotted the butcher. Menma fought like a beast constantly scratching, cutting, and biting at rogan until eventually the man's mace missed and he cut the missin-nins throat open. Rogun spluttered a bit and died looking at the roaring in victory face of his killer.

Soon the effects of the enhancer wore off and Menma fell to the ground, exhausted. He looked at his skin and noticed it was not purple. He had read that a side effect of the enhancer was that the last test subject, some guy called Mundo, was purple for a month after the poison was injected into him. He looked at his sensei and crawled to her and his hand started to glow green, he healed her to the best of his ability then passed out from chakra exhaustion.

(Inside Menma's Mindscape)

Kyuubi looked through Menma's eyes he fought Rogan. He was impressed despite himself as he saw the boy fight a jonin. As a reward for the kid he decided to use a little of his corrosive chakra to prevent any negative side effects of the stuff he injected himself with. He looked around the pond a bit and looked at an hour glass on the shore of the lake. His illusion over the Namikaze family would not last for much longer than a year. He sighed a bit and prepared to meet his new container at the end of the year. He hoped the kid would forgive him for his deception.

 **AN: And that is the Menma's first mission. I hope everyone enjoys Menma's first true life or death battle. The enhancement drug that he took was inspired by Mundo and Greed from Fullmetal Alchemist (I don't own either). Lee will not have any of the abilities from Diarmund from Fate/Zero. I just thought his outfit and hairstyle would be perfect for a new and improved Lee. Anyway I have the results of the pole after the first day. I will probably end the pull right before the chunin exams since I am getting much more responses than I thought I would. I am adding a few more people as well to the list due to people writing their reasons and people in "other." If anyone wishes to change their mind due to the new additions just review or pm me with your change of opinion. Fyi. I am not counting double votes, each person can vote on one girl. I am picking the first person you write in your review or pm on the list.**

 **Shio: 15**

 **Yakumo: 16**

 **Anko: 13**

 **Ino: 7**

 **Tenten: 3**

 **Temari: 1**

 **Other: 6**


	6. Chapter 6: Truth and Summoning Contract

**AN: Alright new chapter. I do not have much information for anyone this time but I have a few things I want to point out. Menma/Naruto's main weapon will be a crossbow. I am thinking of making his moves with the crossbow resemble Vayne and Twitch from League of Legends. I am also thinking of giving him Teemo's shrooms. The trolls that I could do with those kukuku. Anyway this chapter will finally be what everyone has been waiting for. The summoning contract will be in this chapter, I hope everyone enjoys my pick. Now time to answer some questions I saw in the comments**

 **Batros940: Huh, didn't know there was another abandonment fic where Naruto goes med-nin, I'll be sure to read that.**

 **Bladeofhell56: I agree with you that I took a little of Dumbledore's mentality. However the situation is a bit graver. One dark lord vs a primordial god that can destroy all of humanity with a flick of its tails. However when kyuubi is revealed he will hate him at least until they made up in Canon.**

 **nNamikaze11252: Thank you for your constructive criticism. I will try to improve my grammar as well as my vocabulary. Thanks for pointing out this issue.**

 **Ladysonics: All good points. However Lee and Yakumo just went through the emotional trauma of their first kill and weren't thinking straight. As for Anko, she was trying to keep Menma alive, if she had used her usual tricks he would have had an opening to kill him. As for the steroids, that is a last, last resort, he will rarely use that in fights. It's similar to his version of the Kyuubi cloak from the wave mission arc. I tried to make a similar scenario where Naruto will learn to grow strong to protect his comrades instead of just for revenge.**

 **Anyway, on to the story!**

 **Chapter 6:**

 **The Truth and the Summoning Contract**

(Qixiang – Land of Fire)(1 day after the battle)(Menma POV)

It was a bright morning when Menma slowly opened his eyes. He winced at the bright light hitting his eyes from the window as he sat up in bed, warily looking around him. He was in a modest but comfortable hotel room. Soon after he woke up Anko entered the room with a tray of breakfast. He saw the food and his stomach growled, he realized he was very hungry. Anko sat down near him and he asked through eating his eggs "What happened? Are Yakumo and Lee alright?"

Anko nodded "Yes Yakumo was lucky, she fell into some mud and it cushioned her fall a bit. As for Lee he woke up a few hours before you did, seeing how he is currently running around the village he appears to be fine. I woke up around 30 minutes of being unconscious, you shouldn't use your chakra so recklessly to heal me brat. You were suffering from severe chakra exhaustion. I'm surprised you're up already."

"But." Anko suddenly turns deadly serious making Menma gulp a bit. "What the hell was that poison you took, I found the needle sticking out of your arm and found Rogun looking as if an animal attacked him."

Menma looked away from Anko "It was a steroid that I created."

Anko looked a bit angry "Bullshit, I know what we have worked on together and that steroid was way to advance for a rookie genin to completely demolish one of the highest ranked A-rank missing Nin in the bingo book. The only reason that man was not S-rank is because he is only wanted in Konoha and Iwa." A little known fact about becoming S-rank in the bingo book is that you need to be wanted at A-rank by three different ninja villages.

Menma sighed a bit contemplating what to do. He knew this may make her hate him but he owed her the truth. He unzipped his trench coat and pulled down his shirt to show a seal on his heart and unsealed Orochimaru's Journal. He handed it to Anko.

Anko took the journal and started flipping through it, getting angrier as she continued to read the experiments that her former mentor conducted. She looked up, more angry than he had ever seen her "What the hell gaki, where did you find this?! This is one of Orochi-fucking-maru's personal journals!"

Menma winced a bit at her tone "When I was locked out of the Namikaze estate I found one of Orochimaru's hidden laboratories near a training ground I used. I had just decided to get revenge on my former family but I had no one to train me. I had no resources, no mentor, and no allies so I decided to learn from his journals."

Anko's angry expression softened a bit "Menma, you can't just live your life for revenge. I have seen people, including my former mentor walk that path. All of them either ended up dead or a worse monster than the person they wished revenge on."

Anko hugged Menma as a mother would "Menma..no Naruto, you do not need to become a monster like my former sensei. A good friend of mine once told me that in order to become truly strong, you need something precious to fight for. Revenge isn't something precious too you. It is just an empty emotion of hatred that will continue to corrupt you. When your revenge is complete you're left with nothing but more hatred." Mentally she was thanking the Third Hokage for telling her this after she was abandoned by Orochimaru or she would have no clue what to say to this kid.

For the first time since he was five Naruto felt tears running down his face as he was hugged for the first time in his memory. He thought back to all the times he was forgotten by his family and how they doted on Shio. He still felt the burning hatred for his former family. But he then thought of Lee, Yakumo, and Anko and he felt happy for the first time in a long time. He smiled, a true warm smile, he would be the best of both worlds, he would prove to his former family that he was better than Shio, but he would not do it Orochimaru's way, he would become powerful and protect his precious people.

He wrapped his arms around Anko and said softly, "Thank you, Kaa-san."

Anko smiled a bit "No problem brat."

(Exit of Qixiang – Land of Fire)(Menma's POV)

Team 9 was preparing to leave Qixiang when four Iwa shinobi jumped down in front of them. Team 9 quickly got into fighting stances but the leader raised his hand "Hold, we are not here to fight."

Anko didn't loosen her guard and spoke, "What are you doing here then."

The leader of the Iwa group stepped forward a bit, he was a tall man with a rather large nose. He was dressed in the formal Iwa jounin outfit. He stopped a good distance from their group "My name is Kitsuchi, jonin of Iwagakure with my genin team, Kurotsuchi, Akatsuchi, and Suzumebachi Kamizuro. We had heard that Rogan the Butcher was in the area and came to take him out, but it seems that we were too late."

Anko nodded and relaxed a bit "Yes my genin team and I defeated Rogan."

Kitsuchi looked a little impressed as he observed the three genin "Yes and I would like to thank you on behalf of Iwa for his death, however, we would like to request that you return the Hammer of the first Tsuchikage to us. Rogan had stolen it before he went rogue."

Anko looked surprised "The hammer of the first tsuchikage? The Diamondhelm? We did not know that he was carrying such a renowned weapon, I would have thought he would have used some of its abilities."

Kitsuchi nodded "The hammer has seals to prevent the unworthy of using it. You may keep the body of Rogan, he is rightfully yours to cash in the bounty."

Anko took out the scroll they had sealed the hammer in and handed it to Kitsuchi. The Iwa jonin unsealed the mace and inspected it a bit before nodding and sealing it back into the scroll. He looked at the group "The Tsuchikage will hear of this, It will definitely help ease some of the tensions after the peace treaty to hear that a Konoha team returned one of our greatest relics of the First Tsuchikage." Anko nodded.

The Iwa team departed but Menma noticed the girl Kurotsuchi look at him speculatively before jumping away with the rest of her team. Anko sighed in relief "That was Kitsuchi the Great Earth Shaker. He is an S-class ninja of Iwa and slated to become the next Tsuchikage. During the last war he was famous for remodeling an entire forest into an earthen terrain for his allies. We were lucky they weren't hostile or we would have stood no chance." The genins shivered, for their usually unflappable sensei to be wary spoke volumes of that man's skill.

Menma looked at the sun which was approaching Noon "Well, we need to report this to the Hokage so let's head back as quickly as possible." Everyone nodded and they jumped into the forest heading at full speed back to Konoha.

(Hokage's Office – Konoha)(3 days after the events at Qixiang)(Minato's POV)

Minato deadpanned at the report in his hands. How did a C rank turn into an encounter with a high A-rank missing nin and then an encounter with the S-class Iwa jonin Kitsuchi? He sighed "Well, I am glad that no one was injured during this mission. I am also proud that you three defeated Rogan the Butcher, the bounty on his head will be split among the four of you." He smiled a bit "I also want to thank you for returning that weapon back to Iwa. I have already been sent a message from the Tsuchikage with a thank you and the information that he is sending a genin team to the next Chunin exams in Konoha. This is the first time Iwa has participated in a chunin exam sponsored by the village since the system was made."

Anko grinned "All in a day's work Hokage-sama."

He deadpanned at the Jonin-Sensei "I hope it isn't a daily thing, you were very lucky this time. However due to the unforeseen variables in this mission I bumped it up to A-rank and you will earn the appropriate pay alongside the bounty of Rogan. Congratulations."

Yakumo and Lee cheered while Menma smirked, the pay of an A-rank mission would cover his living expenses for the next year.

(Konoha Streets)(Six Months Later)(Menma's POV)

The information that a genin team had killed the infamous Rogan the Butcher spread like wildfire throughout the village. Rogan was one of the most hated Iwa shinobi from the last war. To hear that a genin team managed to kill him made them pretty well known throughout the village.

Soon they got into the habbit of training with Anko, doing some D-ranks and the occasional C-rank. However, none of their C-ranks were as exciting as their first one.

They had skipped the Chunin exams in Kumo along with team 10. They heard that team 7 and 8 disbanded due to two deaths and some promotions, leaving the spots open for this year's graduating class.

Currently he was spying on this year's graduating class. He wanted to scout out the competition and potential allies of the next generation. He also wanted to see the progress of his former sister. He noticed a few potential threats in the class. Uchiha Sasuke was the Shinobi of the year at the moment while his sister, Uzumaki-Namikaze Shio was the Rookie and Kunoichi of the year. The dead last of their generation was an Inuzaka member named Kiba, the younger brother to the clan heiress.

Today for their class it seemed as if they were demonstrating nin-jutsu. Sasuke did a fireball jutsu (as expected of an Uchiha member, it was their calling card after all). Kiba did his clan jutsu fang over fang. Most of the academy students did simple henges or bushin no jutsus. When it was finally Shio's turn she went through some hand seals and bit her thumb and yelled "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" and she appeared standing on a large frog.

He froze, staring at the sight of the frog. He had known that Shio would eventually summon frogs. But he had figured that she would not be given the contract until she was chunin at least. He frowned angrily, he could not beat his sister if she had an entire clan of toads to back her up. Minato had held down the Kyuubi with the boss summon of the Toad clan, he would stand no chance.

He dashed to his hidden training grounds thinking deeply. He needed a summoning contract, that was for sure. However the only contracts that he knew of in Konoha were the Nara clan's deer summoning contract, the Akimichi's butterfly contract, the tortoise contract of the Maito clan, and the Toad contract belonging to his former family and Jiraiya of the Sannin.

He frowned again, trying to summon without a contract is incredibly dangerous. However if one managed to gain a summoning contract through this method their bound to get stronger. Many famous shinobi who had passed the test of their most naturally aligned clans became extremely famous ninjas. The best examples of this would be the three sannin, each now S-rank ninjas.

He knew he would not stand a chance against the Toad clan, even if he was more powerful than their summoner. Feeling a steely resolve settle over him he left to find his sensei.

(Anko's Apartment)

Knocking on the door Menma waited for Anko. His sensei opened the door and looked at him annoyed "What do you want gaki, there is no training for this week."

He nodded "I know sensei I just wanted to inform you I am going to do some solo survival training in the forest of death for the next week and I will not be in contact."

Anko nodded "Be careful gaki, the tigers are a bit frisky since it's close to mating season."

Menma nodded before running to the forest. When he was far enough in he breathed in a bit to calm himself. Summoning without a contract is not illegal but he would be the first unsponsored orphan to attempt this. All of the past people to summon animals without a contract either had special training from a clan or a high ranking jonin.

He went through the handseals he had memorized from Shio and bit his thumb before saying quietly "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" with that he disappeared in a plume of smoke.

(Unkown Forest)(Menma POV)

Menma crouched down on the ground as he arrived looking around the area cautiously. The area he had landed on seemed to be pretty similar to the forest of death. He assumed he had summoned himself into a land creature's domain so that removed sea creatures or any type of bird. The area also did not look like a swamp so that removed reptiles.

He looked around a bit more, expecting to see some overly large animal appear from the forest, but he could see nothing.

What he did not know is that he is being watched at the moment. All around the forest tiny eyes peered at him as they considered the latest potential summoner. They had not had a potential contract holder for centuries.

Menma continued to walk down the only path in the forest. He still did not see any potential summoning animal. He saw several insects, small animals, but none that seemed to be summonable. He pulled his larger crossbow from his back. He had bought this weapon from the latest shipment of weapons from the land of snow. The weapon ran on chakra and could reload arrows extremely quickly. He had made the weapon even more deadly by poisoning all of the arrows.

Eventually he reached a clearing with an extremely large spider web. The web was constructed to look like a small city and was crawling with hundreds upon hundreds of spiders in different sizes. Some were as large as trucks while others the size of his fingernail. He put on his gas mask and cautiously approached the nest, wary of any potential attack.

As he passed many of the spiders turned to look at him curiously, or at least he thought it was curiously. It was hard to tell their emotions. Soon he arrived the center of the nest where a large throne was erected. He was confused, why would a throne be here that was meant for a humanoid person. Before he could walk further hundreds of spiders converged on the throne, seemingly merging into a human.

Soon the blob of spiders gained color and the person was revealed. She was a tall women with flowing black hair, eyes that instead of a pupil had a classic spider web pattern. She wore a black dress with spider web pattern straps (Arachne – Soul Eater). The lady smiled motherly at Menma and put a black fan in front of her mouth as she spoke "It has been so long since a human has entered this realm. We have been waiting so long for a true summoner of our race."

He stared at the being in front of him "Who are you? I doubt you are human if you are here."

The women didn't seem offended "No I am not. My name is Arachne, the collective consciousness of all the spiders of this realm."

He felt his eyes widened, "So you are the hive mind of all of these spiders?"

Arache nodded "Yes, only a few of the spiders here have true awareness like other summoning creatures. However an advantage of this is that I can control any spider, not only of this realm. For example I know that your family abandoned you. I know where each member of your family is. I even know that your mentor, Anko, burnt her dinner last night and was forced to eat out."

He gapped at such an information gathering ability. If what she was saying is true she had the power to see through the eyes of every spider on earth. That would outstrip any sensing ability he had ever heard of from anyone. He gulped a bit before becoming serious "What is your challenge to becoming a summoner of the spider clan?"

The women tapped her chin in thought, the spider clan had never had a test for their summoner because no one had ever wanted her contract. She looked at the young man before her, she knew everything about him that she saw through her spiders. She knew he was a driven young man that would become very powerful in the future. She licked her lips a bit and spoke "I know almost your entire life Menma, or should I say Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze. I know how powerful you can be in the future. Your fighting style is very similar to ours as well. I will give you the summoning contract."

I wanted to gape at how easy that was but I retained control over my emotions this time. "I thank you queen Arache, could you please explain the abilities of your contract?"

Arache nodded "The spider contract is not one of the most powerful contracts in terms of open combat, but in terms of subversion, intelligence gathering, and assassination we are unparalleled. We are able to locate and listen to any conversation where a spider can access. Finally, we can teach you our brand of senjutsu."

I couldn't help but widen my eyes at the last bit of information. Senjutsu was only from the most rare of contracts. Each clan had their own brand of senjutsu. From what he read from Minato's notes is that the toad clan boosts one's abilities by a factor of ten. He looked at Arache seriously "What is the purpose of your Senjutsu?"

Arache smiled her motherly smile and explained "Our last summoner, Elise, was able to turn into a rather impressively large black widow spider. She gained the ability to access the collective consciousness of the spiders like I am able to. Finally, she gained the ability to use acid based attacks. I believe she called it acid release."

He thought of the possibilities of those powers. By being able to turn into a large spider would be extremely useful in combat. By entering the consciousness of every spider his sensory ability would be unparalleled. However, the acid release drew his attention the most, that ability would go perfectly with his fighting style. He looked at Arachne "How does one learn your style of Senjutsu?"

Arache frowned a bit "Other clans require you to absorb the arrant nature chakra in the air. We use a special type of toxin to give you our abilities. However this toxin is extremely deadly and requires thorough training in resisting poisons."

He smirked a bit at that "I have trained myself for six years in resisting poisons. I will be able to handle it."

Arache smirked a bit, what a convenient summoner, Elise required years of poison resistance training before she was able to undergo the vilemaw toxin. She took out an ancient looking vile from a spider and approached Menma.

She cut herself with a knife and black blood flowed into a wooden goblet, filling it halfway. She then poured the crystal clear concoction from the vile into the cup, filling it to nearly the brim.

She handed the cup to Menma and spoke seriously "This will hurt you more than anything that has happened in your life. It will feel as if every cell in your body is melting and every nerve cell will hurt horribly. We will wrap you in one of our healing cocoons until the process is complete. The vilemaw toxin will take three days to fully integrate with your body. After that, if you live, it will take around a week for you to heal."

Menma nodded and mentally prepared himself as he drank deeply from the goblet. As soon as he finished the drink spiders immediately started wrapping him in a cocoon. He barely acknowledged the spider silk around him as he felt an enormous amount of pain spreading through his body. The pain was worse than the time he overdosed on black window venom to immunize himself. As he started to pass out he thought of his friends, Lee's encouraging thumbs up and a sunny smile. Yakumo's soft smile, hands clasped behind her back as she encouraged him on. Anko's smirk as she told him to survive or she would find a way to make his afterlife hell.

He smiled a bit in the cocoon. The pain seemed to dull a bit as he continued to think of his friends encouragements. His precious people were waiting for him to return.

Yeah.

He would not die here.

 **AN: And there it is, Menma now has the Spider contract. Now I know people will comment that He is learning senjutsu too early. However he has to train a long time to learn the three skills that come with the spiders. At most he will have acid release on a basic level during the chunin exams. He will not have the spider sense and spider transformation until shippuden. Arachne is based on the witch Arachne Gorgon from Soul eater. However, she is not the actual character. As I stated in the chapter she is the hive mind for all of the spiders, she is not the sister of medusa who leads arachnophobia. Anyway here is the result of the pollings for the second day:**

 **Shio: 23**

 **Yakumo: 28**

 **Ino: 10**

 **Other: 6**

 **Currently Yakumo in the lead with Shio in second place. I am ending the pole after the next chapter so if you have not voted yet please vote now. I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter!**


	7. Chapter 7: Changes and Rookie 12

**AN: Greetings everyone! Time for the 7th chapter of this series. I am seriously blown away by the responses it is getting. 334 favorites in 5 days? Anyway freaking out moment over. Menma now has the spider contract and knows the most basic of basic senjutsu skills. Here is a list of benefits that he will get automatically and some he needs to train with**

 **Automatically:**

 **Improved senses**

 **Heightened body strength**

 **More chakra**

 **Has to be taught:**

 **Acid release: This will be slightly different from Mei Terume's acid release. He will use it more like a nerfed version of Megallen from One Piece.**

 **Pros: Heavily combat based jutsu that can pierce the greatest of defenses.**

 **Cons: Has a heavy potential for friendly fire even if allies have great poison resistance.**

 **Spider Transformation: This transformation in its first stage is similar to Arachne when she gave up her body to bond with Madness. He will be a half spider half human hybrid. In the second stage he will be like Elise from LoL and turn into a massive spider.**

 **Pros: increased melee potential and greatly increased strength. He will also be able to use create spider webs to help bind or restrict his opponents.**

 **Cons: Unable to form hand seals and the massive form makes stealth very difficult.**

 **Collective Consciousness: The ability to access Arachne's technique to gather information from any spider in the world.**

 **Pros: One of the strongest sensory abilities and information gathering technique in the world only matched by Zetsu.**

 **Cons: The user is unable to move and has to keep their eyes closed as they review the information being sent by the spiders. This is similar to Naruto's canon restriction with sage mode. In addition Naruto must be careful not to take too much information or his brain could overwork itself.**

 **AN2: I tried to not make his senjutsu so ridiculously over powered as the toad transformation while still keeping it a very nice power boost. Now to answer some questions I saw in the reviews.**

 **Ncpfan – That is a good idea. I am intending to have several "sub-boss" level spiders for him to summon. These summons will be similar to the two toads that Naruto summons with the battle with Pein alongside Gamabunta.**

 **nNamikaze11252: You are correct that Kidomaru has a spider summoning contract. However, in all fanfictions one changes the story for their benefit. I will give Kidomaru a summoning contract, just not spiders.**

 **Xearthes: As I explained above he does get a partial transformation state. He will be able to use handsigns in this form.**

 **Havn't said this in awhile but I do not own Naruto, Soul Eater, LoL, or any of the references in this story.**

 **Anyway now that everything is explained time to continue with the story!**

 **Chapter 7:**

 **Changes and the Rookie 12**

(Forbidden Forest – Spider Realm)(10 days after Vilemaw Venom was injected)(Menma POV)

Menma slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He was laying on a hammock made out of spider silk in one of the cocoon looking houses the spiders lived in. He got up from the hammock and rubbed his eyes a bit. His entire body felt sore from the senjutsu process. Though he could already tell some of the benefits of senjutsu.

He could sense some spiders skittering around the forest. He could also tell that he had about 20% more chakra than normal. He sighed a bit before looking around the room, and saw a mirror and stepped in front of it. His eyes widened a bit. His once light blond, almost white hair had turned midnight black. His bangs were longer, now hanging a bit past his chin (Medusa's hairstyle after absorbing Arachne.) Under his right eye there was a half spider web pattern. He sighed a bit looking at his face, Anko would flip out. Not only had he been gone for three days longer than he had told her but his change in appearance would also spark her rage.

He sighed again before looking down and noticing his lack of cloths and he blushed. He looked around and saw some clothes laid out for him. There was a black sleeveless hoodie with two silver spider web patterns on the hood, baggy shinobi style black pants, and shinobi style black sandals. His gas mask laid on top of the clothes. He sighed a bit and put on the outfit and found them very comfortable. They felt like silk but seemed to be very durable.

He left the cocoon home and found Arachne still sitting on her throne drinking some wine, or at least he hoped it was wine. She turned to him and smiled warmly "Ah, so you survived, good, your human friends have been worrying. I would return soon so you can calm them.

He winced a bit at the reminder that his friends were most likely worried. He nodded to Arachne "Thank you for your help and the chance to become a summoner for this clan. I will make sure to honor the spider clan."

Arachne chuckled a bit and waved her fan "No need to be so formal, it has been a long time since we have had a summoner and I so hope you bring some interest to this boring lifestyle of mine. Come back soon for some training in the art of our senjutsu. Also if you wished to summon me just do the normal summoning justsu but also call out my name, I will come. tata." She snapped her fingers and Menma disappeared in a poof of smoke and she smirked a bit "What an interesting boy…"

(Forest of Death front entrance – Konoha)

As soon as he appeared in a poof of smoke he sweatdropped as he saw Anko at the front entrance, looking murderously at him. She marched up to him and hit him on the side of his head, hard "You little idiot! Do you know how worried I was when you did not come back the seventh day?! No, of course you didn't you were off gallivanting with the spider clan!"

He looked at her wide eyes, how did she know he had interacted with the spider clan? Anko glared at him and continued "I know you signed the spider contract because every allied summoning clan knows when a new summoning bond is formed. You're lucky that the snakes have been allied with the Spiders for generations and told me you were the one who accepted the contract or I would have alerted the village that you were missing."

Menma sighed a bit at this, at least he would not have to explain to Anko the change of his appearance. He looked to the still furious face of Anko and spoke calmly "I needed an edge against Shio's toads so I took a calculated risk to get my own summoning contract."

Anko wacked him upside the head again "You should have at least told me what you were attempting! I could have helped prepare you for the more unfriendly summoning clans. If you had been transported to the Shark or Alligator clan you would have had to prove yourself in combat against the son of their boss summon. There famous for killing all potential summoners but the strongest."

He winced a bit at that information, he really was lucky to get the Spiders. Though he wondered what they would have done if Arachne had not approved of him and he shivered a bit. Anko seemed a bit calmer than before "We need to see the Hokage gaki, he has called us and team 10 for something."

(Hokage's Office – Konoha)

Soon teams 9 and 10 were gathered in the Hokage's office waiting for him to speak. He looked at the teams, pausing on Menma to look at his new style and web markings before continuing his observations. Minato looked up from their files "Team 9 and 10 I have read your files and have been impressed by your two team's progress. However, as you know the next chunin exams will be hosted in Konoha in 8 months. For the first time since the first shinobi war all five nations will be competing."

Both team's eyes widened, every nation would be competing in this chunin exams? Menma stepped forward a bit "Hokage-sama, why is Kumo participating in this tournament? I thought that tensions were high between our two villages."

Minato nodded "Yes, we have not had the best relations with Kumo ever since the Hyuuga incident. However, since four of the five nations were participating they decided to send a team as well. It is for this reason that I am not sending both your teams on any more C-ranks untill the chunin exams."

Everyone wanted to protest a bit but a look from the Hokage stopped them "I know it is a bit unfair but you will be receiving pensions for your lost earnings. I do not want any of you to be injured or potentially assassinated by competing countries while you are out of the village. You may be allowed to do D-ranks but I want you all to train and do your best to prove your worth to the other nations in the next exams. Now everyone but Anko and Menma please leave, we still have one more thing to discuss."

Everyone nodded and everyone but Anko and Menma left the room. Minato looked at Menma "I noticed you dyed your hair and got a tattoo, unfortunately you will have to re-take your shinobi license photo. I wish you luck in the upcoming chunin exams."

Anko and Menma nodded and left to re-take his shinobi-license.

(Training ground 9 – Konoha)(1 hour after the Hokage meeting)

All of the members of team 9 were at their usual training ground. Lee and Yakumo were prestering Menma on the reason for his sudden change in look.

He sighed a bit "I changed my look because I gained a summoning contract." Yakumo and Lee's eyes widened.

Lee's eyes suddenly seemed to catch fire "Yosh! That is so youthful Menma! With your comrades we will be able to increase our teamwork and our youth!"

Yakumo deadpanned a bit at Lee's usual behavior and turned to Menma "congratulations Menma with your new summoning contract, with the web markings I'm guessing you are able to summon spiders? They would fit you."

He nodded "Yes I have been accepted as their summoner. These changes are due to a process they did to make me more compatible with their techniques."

After discussing the spider clan a bit more they began team training by including spiders of various sizes into their exercises. After three hours of this Lee had to go train with Gai for his afternoon practice and Yakumo had clan training. Anko went to hang out with Kurenai.

Soon Menma was standing alone in the training field, contemplating what to do. He thought for a bit longer before running through some handseals and bitting his thumb "Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Arachne!"

The spider queen appeared and looked around a bit before smiling at Menma "It has been awhile since I left the spider realm. However I did not expect to be summoned this early by you. What did you need?"

He looked at Arachne seriously "I have eight months to prepare for the Chunin exams, I would like you to train me in some of the skills the spider clan has access too."

Arachne frowned a bit, tapping her chin "In that amount of time you can learn the Acid release and some of the less known techniques the spider clan utilizes with chakra strings. It takes years to learn the spider transformation and learning my sensory technique."

He nodded, expecting that information "I would be willing to learn the acid release and could you explain some of the other skills you could teach me with chakra strings?"

Arachne nodded "Our chakra string techniques are the foundation of our spider silk techniques, we spread our chakra in a web formation to guide where we send our silk. However we discovered that we can use this chakra web to sense, ensnare, and kill our opponents. We adapted this technique for future summoners."

Menma nodded, prepairing for the training with Arachne.

(Konoha Academy)(Graduating day: Six months after training with Arachne)

During the six months that Arachne tutored him was quite enjoyable. He learned that Arachne, despite comprising all the knowledge and sentience of most of the spiders in the world had her own personality. She was a nice women if a bit skewed morally wise. She viewed any spider as her son or daughter and had taken to calling him eggling. She had taught him a great deal in these six months. He had gotten acid release to a basic level and could use them like water ninjutus. He had also learned to form chakra strings from any tenketsu of his body to form a web around him. This web can be used to detect people similar to the byakugan. He could also channel his acid release through the web and cause various effects on his enemies. He could not inject too many lethal poisons into his chakra yet but he has managed to spread his acid release in a paralyzing mixture.

He was spying on the graduating class again, leaning against the outer wall as he observed the graduates. Today was the day they would take their final exams to become genin. He spotted his former family, some village nobles, and shinobi clans congratulating their children for graduating. Soon he spotted a head of blond hair and focused on his former sister.

She had changed from a little brat the last time he saw her to a young woman. She had a hairstyle similar to minato's but had a spiky pony tail similar to Jiraya of the Sannin. She wore a dark blue turtleneck and forest green shinobi pants with dark green shinobi style sandals. On the back of her shirt the Uzumaki swirl was imprinted. He felt the hatred he held for his sister and his former family rise to the surface but he kept it in check from showing on his face. He knew he would get his revenge in two months when they fought in the Chunin exams. He turned way and walked away, pulling up his hood as he did so.

(Shio's POV)

Shio was having one of the best days of her life. She had woke up to see the smiling faces of her family and had rushed to get ready for the exams. When she had arrived at the classroom she met her friends and they talked for a bit before Iruka entered the room and handed out their tests.

After the exams she was extremely proud of herself. She was finally a genin of Konoha! She would soon surpass her tou-san and become Hokage! Dattebayo!

She was basking in the happiness radiating from her parents. What she hadn't told her parents is she had the ability to sense emotions. This ability had emerged a year ago and she could not understand how she got it. However she had abused this ability to tell what other people thought of her. It came as a surprise to her when she felt a deep hatred being directed at her and her parents. She looked around and saw a boy leaning near the wall of the academy. He wore a Leaf headband around his arm so he was a shinobi. He was probably one of the oddest people she had seen. He had black hair with front bangs that stretched down past his chin and spiked hair in the back. He had pupilless blue eyes with a spider wep tattoo under his right eye.

What caught her attention however was that he was radiating so much hatred. However, under the deep hatred she felt she could sense emotions such as sadness, envy, and loneliness. She turned to her tou-san and pointed at the boy who was walking away "Tou-san who is that boy?"

Minato turned to the back of the boy she pointed to and said "That is Menma, he was the rookie of the year last year. He surprised many by beating several clan members for the top spot. Why?"

She looked at the retreating boy again thoughtfully "No reason tou-san…"

(Hidden Training Ground)(Later that night)(Menma POV)

Menma was training in his chakra webs when he detected someone heading his way at chunin speeds. He turned to look at the man approaching and saw the academy teacher Mizuki. He was holding a large scroll on his back that he recognized immediately, the forbidden scroll where he stole many of his techniques as a child. He went through some hand seals and used one of his latest techniques "Acid release: Sticky binding web no jutsu!" This jutsu was one of the most simple acid release techniques. It allowed for an untoxic sap like substance to travel along the web and quickly hardening while maintaining its stickiness. Soon the chakra strings around him became visible and Mizuki stuck to some of his web.

He called out to his former sensei "Mizuki-san, I would ask that you surrender and return the forbidden scroll before I kill you." He took out his crossbow from the holster on his back to increase his threat.

Mizuki looked enraged that he was being talked down to by a Genin "As if I am going to surrender to you, I am an elite chunin while your just a genin!" he took off one of his two giant shurikens to cut the sticky rope binding him and threw it at Menma."

Menma felt a truly twisted smile stretch across his face, this is the first true battle he had since Rogan and he was itching to test out some of his new abilities. He easily dodged the shuriken and went through some hand signs. His chest expanded a bit and he spoke "Acid release: Acid shot!" small balls of acid shot from his mouth in a gun like fashion at Mizuki. He dodged and the balls of acid started to eat through the trees they hit. Mizuki looked at the damage wide eyed "What the hell are you! You should only be a weak genin!"

He looked at the raging man and spoke "It's not that I'm too strong, it's just that you are too weak." With those words he took out his crossbow and channeled his chakra through it and started firing at the rapidly dodging Mizuki. Soon arrows could be seen sticking throughout the tree line in an intricate formation. What mizuki could not see are the chakra strings connecting the arrows. His twisted smirk widened a bit and went through some handsigns again "Acid release: Paralytic scattering dew!" soon the web of chakra lines above them started to grow damp with acid and the lines started to rapidly vibrate, dripping almost like rainfall on their location, each blob of water a potent paralyzing solution designed to mimic morning dew.

Soon Mizuki was drenched from the paralyzing rain. He started to walk up to Mizuki, a chakra scalpel forming in his hands. However he was distracted when his former sister Shio burst into the clearing "Mizuki! Return the forbidden scroll!"

She paused as she observed the situation. Mizuki was seemingly passed out on the ground and Menma was standing above him with glowing hands. She felt the sickening emotions of Mizuki and the cold feeling she felt from Menma earlier "What the hell happened here?! Dattebayo?"

Menma smirked a bit at his former sister "I defeated the traitor Mizuki, your ANBU guard should be here to take him away soon." As soon as he said that two masked ANBU members dropped to the ground and took Mizuki somewhere.

The two genin stood in silence for a bit before Menma turned and picked up the forbidden scroll and looked at Shio "Come on, we should report this to the Hokage."

Shio felt the bitter emotions when he spoke of the Hokage but didn't mention them, she was curious to why he seemed to hate her family so much. From what she could tell from his emotions he seemed to be using the hatred he felt for them to hide his sadness.

They walked together a bit in silence before jumping on the rooftops the rest of the way to the Hokage's office.

(Hokage's Office)(Menma's POV)

When they arrived at the office Menma put the forbidden scroll on the Hokage's desk and stepped back a bit. Minato opened the scroll to check the contents and nodded a bit "Thank you Menma and Shio for retrieving this. I was in a meeting the council discussing team placements when he snuck into the office for the scroll.

Shio scratched the back of her head a bit "Erm, tou-san I didn't really do anything, it was Menma who apprehended Mizuki."

She felt the surprise radiating from Menma, did he think that she would take credit for something that she didn't do? Minato also seemed a bit surprised and turned to Menma "Then thank you Menma for apprehending Mizuki. The penalty for stealing the forbidden scroll is death, and a B-rank missing nin status if he had managed to escape the village. You will earn the bounty on his head when he is put to death."

Menma nodded "Thank you Hokage-sama."

Minato put the Forbidden scroll in a hidden drawer in his desk and spoke "Thank you again you two for returning this, I will see you later Shio, and good night Menma-san."

They both nodded at the dismissal and left the room.

(Konoha Streets)(8 PM)(Shio's POV)

They walked out of the Hokage building and stood apart from each other awkwardly. She cleared her throat "Well, I hope to see you again (and find out why you seem to have so much buried pain against my family)."

Menma nodded and started to walk away.

She frowned a bit at his back before turning around for home.

(Uzumaki Residence)(Kushina's POV)

Kushina was flipping through a picture album of her daughter. She was so proud that her little girl was a shinobi. However as she flipped through the pages and eventually arrived at a four year old Shio, she felt something snap inside her head. She gasped and dropped the book, running out of the house. The book lay where it fell, open showing the picture of Naruto's smiling face for the world to see.

(Menma's mindscape)

A fox with two tails sat on top of the pond in Naruto's mindscape as he watched the hourglass shatter and sighed. It was almost time to reveal himself to his unkowning host. He hoped that he would understand his reasons for separating him from his family. He settled down on all fours and stewed in his guilt for causing another family to suffer because of the Uchiha.

 **AN3: And there's chapter 7. I hope everyone likes how I'm building my character. Currently he is a mix of Arachne, Elise, Twitch, Vayne, Sasori, and Orochimaru. Next chapter is the start of family angst and the chunin exams. I forgot the results of the poll. Anyway here it is (along with some corrections in my grammar)**

 **Shio: 43 Winner!**

 **Yakumo: 38 2nd place**

 **Shio did a come from behind victory. Yakumo will be paired with Lee. I am sorry to anyone who voted for Yakumo or any of the other options. Do not worry, I am not doing brother x sister full incest love. They do not perceive themselves as brother and sister and probably never will. The vilemaw process changed Naruto's DNA signature so his mother is now Arachne. So therefore Shio is just his half-sister.**


	8. Chapter 8: Clash of Hatred and Regret

**AN: Time for the 8** **th** **chapter in the series. I want to clarify something about the pairings. I am not going to be like other fanfic authors who have kids as young as 12 get into a relationship. Shio and Naruto will not get together until at least mid Shippuden. There will be hints of their relationship earlier but they will not be a "couple" until around the Pein fight. I also saw some people in the reviews requesting to show more medical jutsu. I have not been able to feature too much of those ninjutsu because of the lack of injuries in the fights so far. However he will start to show more medical expertise in and after the chunin exams. Anyway ill answer some questions I saw in the reviews**

 **Ms. Spooky1 –** By the time Shio and Naruto actually get together most of the angst of the abandonment will be over. I agree that incest relationships are overused in fanfiction but I hope to make mine more about love than just adding to the harem of the MC.

 **Batros940** **–** I don't wish Kidomaru to have the spider contract because of the lore im going for with the spiders. They havnt had a summoner in centuries according to Arachne. I want the spider contract to be unique. As for why the fox isn't ripping itself out of Naruto's body. He is pretty much hiding from Madara and Obito. The safest place for a skyscraper tall fox to hid is in the body of a human, especially if no one knows he is there.

 **Ncpfan** – Naruto still has the whisker marks. However the marks under his right eye are obscured a bit by the web pattern.

 **Anyway on to the story!**

 **Chapter 8**

 **Battle of Hatred and Regret**

(Hokage's office – Konoha)(Kushina's POV)(1 month before Chunin Exams)

Kushina was running through the streets of Konoha, her mind a mess. The skies seemed to reflect her mood as the clouds were dark grey with thunder in the distance. How could she have forgotten her own son?! However, she was not hysterical enough not to notice the feel of a genjutsu lifting. If the genjutsu had any relation to why she had forgotten her sochi then he or she would **burn.** She ran into the Hokage building and kicked open Minato's door.

Minato looked up startled at his wife's sudden entry "Kushina? What is going…" His words died off as he saw her teary face.

Kushina looked at Minato teary eyed "Our son Minato! We forgot about our son, earlier I was looking through a photo album and I saw a picture of him!"

Minato felt something shatter in his mind and immediately memories of Naruto flooded into his head. He sorted through a few of them and felt sickened as he put a hand over his forehead "Why could I not remember my son? That felt like a genjutsu had been broken from my mind!?"

Kushina brushed aside her tears "We need to find him Minato, who knows where he could have gone! He could be living on the streets!"

Minato rubbed his forehead thinking over the situation logically, he was devastated by this revelation. As an orphan himself he knew the pain of growing up without parents. But to have parents and seemingly have been abandoned by them? Even unintentionally? He would feel hatred for his former parents and wish to get revenge. He looked at Kushina "We can't just announce to the whole village that our son is missing. With the chunin exams coming up a scandal this huge of a Hokage abandoning their child could ruin the village in front of all the clients.

Kushina looked angry "Then we do what?! Do nothing while my sochi is out there somewhere?"

Minato shook his head "I never said that. I will gather every ANBU member and Jonin the village and tell them to search for Naruto discreetly. I will also send notes to the hospital to test the blood of all non-clan genin to see if any of them match our DNA."

Kushina nodded whipping tears from her eyes as she looked fiercely at Minato "I do not care if our son hates us for our neglect, even if it was under the force of a genjutsu. It is probably too late to be his mother but I will be damned if I do not make sure that he is safe and offer our home to him again."

Minato nodded with a pained expression on his face.

She left the Hokage's tower with a determined expression on her face, she would search the records of the orphanages first before looking at the academy records to see if she could find anything on Naruto.

(Minato's office – Konoha)(Minato's POV)

As soon as Kushina left he buried his face into his hands. How could this have happened? He thought back to all the times in his life he could have been affected by genjutsu to ignore his son. The only time he could think of someone having enough skill to caste a genjutsu on him is the masked man from that night.

He pulled out the files of all the genin from last year. He discard the sheets of the clan heirs and children with alibis. Soon he was down to one candidate that could be Naruto. The folder showed the black haired and blue eyed genin Menma. He discarded the difference in hair color and lack of pupil. Both could be results from dying one's hair and over training. His pupiless blue eyes also matched in color to his own.

He opened the folder to the boy's history and discovered that he applied for orphan status at age 6 and said that he did not know his heritage. The boy applied for the academy at age 8 the next day and was rarely seen around the village until he entered the academy.

He stood up, he needed to find Menma.

(Uzumaki estate – Konoha)(Shio's POV)(Emediately after the Wave Mission)

Shio and the rest of team 7 had just returned from their C turned A-rank in the land of waves. It was a long mission and she was anxious to get home. Kakashi-sensei had told them they would report their mission tomarrow and they had the rest of the day off.

She entered the estate and entered the house calling "I'm home."

She looked around, that's strange, Kushina is usually at home by now, did kaa-san go out? She entered the living room and saw a photo album laying open on the floor. She picked the book up and saw the picture of Naruto and felt a breaking sensation in her head and memories of her older brother came rushing to her head. She gasped and dropped the book in shock. Where was her onii-san?

She clasped her hands together as if in prayer and expanded her senses. She had been practicing Senjutsu with the toads for over a month now and was able to grasp the basics of it. She created a shadow clone and had it meditate with her. Soon a red pigment surrounded her eyes and they snapped open revealing toad like pupils. She stood up and left the clone meditating and went to where a faint presence of her brother's chakra could be felt. She entered one of their spare bedrooms they never really entered and saw a sparse room. There was a single bed, a desk stacked with books and notes, and a bookshelf. She went where she sensed the chakra and found a sealing tag on the desk. It was a beginners seal that stored chakra like a battery for people who are learning fuinjutsu. She memorized her brother's chakra signature and sat down in a lotus position again and expanded her senses. She had never been able to sense that far before but she ignored that problem and kept expanding her sensing range until she was covering the entire village and the training grounds beyond.

She opened her eyes and dashed out the window as she felt her brother's chakra signature at training ground 26.

(Training ground 26 – Konoha)(Menma's POV)

Training ground 26 is a unique training ground in Konoha. Instead of a forested terrain the training ground is one large lake that has several large cliffs surrounding it. There were plenty of small islands on the lake and several waterfalls cascading down the cliff surfaces. This is the perfect training ground for training for underwater fighting, water ninjutsu, or water walking.

Currently Menma was practicing the final step of water mastery training, reversing the flow of a waterfall. He wanted to complete this exercise before the chunin exams. He was about to continue his training when he felt a presence behind him. He was surprised when he saw Shio standing there looking at him with an unreadable expression. He tried to control the hate he felt for the girl but as always it came bubbling up to the surface whenever she was near. He glared lightly "What do you want, I do not want you to interrupt my training."

Shio frowned a bit and spoke "Naruto onii-san."

He froze when he heard his former sister speak that name. His eyes narrowed in hate as he stared at her "I do not know what you are talking about. I am not your brother."

Shio did not flinch but her hands balled into fists "I know your chakra signature, I do not know why I forgot you for so long but I remember now. I know without a doubt that you are Naruto my brother! Please come back home and we can be a family again!"

Menma scowled a bit "Even if I was your brother I am not now. Your pathetic parents never had time for the lesser sibling so why should I even think of returning to that home." He felt his anger grow a bit more as the web marking under his eye seemed to expand a bit down his cheek.

Shio seemed to be getting angry and shouted "I do not know why they would forget about you but I know my parents. They would never leave any child of theirs behind! The Uzumaki family never abandon their own!"

Naruto glowered at Shio and shouted back "You may believe in your parents but I gave them many opportunities to notice me. I shouted at them, begged them, prayed for them to notice me but they always shoved me away to focus on YOU!" He felt his hatred grow as he felt the toxicity of his blood increase in response to his anger.

Shio seemed to steel herself "If you refuse to come home." She unsealed her nodachi. The sword was as tall as she was and had a plain black grip with an ornate steel guard. She got into her stand with the blade pointed behind her in a crouched stance and sprinted forward while shouting "Then I will force you!"

Shio used her wind manipulation around her blade and twisted around in a graceful arc before swinging her sword, sending a strong slash of wind at Menma while shouting "Majestic Slash of the Heavenly Breeze!"

He scowled a bit before activating his chakra scalpel and cut through the wind slash, cutting the strike in two pieces that slammed into the cliff behind him, deeply scaring it. He knew close combat against Shio would be suicide, her wind manipulation and sword skills were almost unrivaled in the village. His arrows would be useless against her wind but he had one advantage over her. They were on water. He sped through some handseals before shouting "Acid Style: Water Spider Bombs!" out of the water bubbled medium sized spiders made out of water with a red dot in the center. They all dashed at Shio with medium speeds.

Shio quickly spun around in a pirouette causing a cyclone of wind and water to come up around her as the water spiders jumped at her, exploding violently as they came in contact with the wall of wind and water. Soon the water wall was cut in half as another blade of wind cut through it at him.

He ran through four hand seals before calling out "Water style, Hardened Water Wall!" the lake surged underneath them as a hardened wall of water blocked the wind blade.

He channeled chakra through his hands again and went through three more handseals "Acid style: Giant spider bomb no jutsu!" From the large wall of water a huge spider with a glowing red core emerged and pounced on Shio and exploded on her.

He stood there still on guard, he doubted that spider would have killed her. Soon out of the spray of water from the bomb he could hear a slightly whirling of wind and widened his eyes at the sight before him.

Around Shio there were four large fan like blades spinning around her forming a shield. He inspected the blades a bit "So this is the famed chakra manipulation of the Namikaze-Uzumaki family. Many people speculated what Minato could do with Kushina's ability to harden her chakra outside of her body. I guess this is the result."

Shio nodded "Yes this is my true sword style, dance of the five blades. Please surrender Naruto, you will not be able to defeat me."

He narrowed his eyes. He knew he had no chance against her in melee combat, normally. He formed his chakra scalpels around his hands but this time used pure acid release chakra instead of medical chakra and acid began to drip off his hands as they turned black. He spread out a chakra web around his body to increase his sensory and also began to use senjutsu. His eyes gained the same spider web insignia that Arachne had and the whites of his eyes turned black. He glared at Shio with his new eyes and spoke "I will not surrender to you, I dedicated my life to defeat you and I will prove myself to be stronger than you!" With those words he went through several handseals with his poisoned palms and shouted "Acid release: Dokukiri no jutsu!" Soon most of the entire battlefield was filled with a purple mist.

Shio stood inside the mist, her blades of chakra circling around her forming a ball of pure air to prevent the poison from affecting her.

Soon out of the mist Menma appeared, with his chakra scalpels about to cut her. Before he could reach her however his shoulder was stabbed by one of the floating blades of chakra. Menma widened his eyed before smirking as he dissolved into acid.

Shio scowled, those clones were incredibly dangerous, if she killed one of them close to her body they would cover her in acid. She went through some handseals before inhaling some air "Wind style: Great Breakthrough!" and a huge gust of air was unleashed from her mouth and the poisoned mist was blown away. Once the mist dissipated she was surrounded by 10 Narutos.

She glanced around trying to tell which one was real. She scowled a bit, one wrong move would have her covered in acid. She spun around and unleashed a circular slash around her that bisected all of the clones and raised a wall of wind around her to prevent the resulting explosions of acid from reaching her.

She stood tense for a few seconds before she felt glowing hands clamp around her ankles, she screamed as she felt her tendons were cut and Menma rose out of the water behind her, chakra scalpels glowing around his hands.

He sneered at her "End of the line" He raised his hands in a cross fashion, presumably to decapitate her when she went through some handseals and bit her thumb "Summoning no jutsu!" he jumped away just in time for a huge red toad to appear in a puff of smoke.

Shio panted a bit from the summoning cost of Gamabunta and felt the kyuubi's chakra healing her cut tendons and stood up.

Gamabunta looked annoyed as he stared up at Shio " **Why did you call me up here gaki?"**

Shio looked at the huge frog underneath her and said "I am fighting my lost brother, we need to knock him out and return him home so dad and mom can explain what is happening."

Gamabunta looked increasingly annoyed " **And don't you think summoning me is a bit overk-"** he would have continued but he heard a shout of "summoning no jutsu" interrupted him and in a large burst of smoke a spider almost as large as Gamabunta appeared.

Menma was standing on the head of the beast and spoke calmly "Aragog let us fight together against this toad." He felt the spider under him shift a bit and it spoke in a deep voice " **Yes summoner, this toad will feed our clan for a long time."**

Shio gaped at the sight of the spider, how did he brother get his hands on the spider summoning contract? Gamabunta under her shifted a bit as he gripped his giant tanto " **I had heard rumors of a new spider summoner but I didn't believe them, however I've always enjoyed fried spider legs."** Soon the two titans were battling, reshaping the training ground as their attacks broke the cliff sides around them. Their summoners offering assistance with elemental attacks and alerting their summon to dangers. Aragog seemed to rely on trapping Gamabunta in webs while the toad kept slicing through the webs and dodging the pincer attacks.

After a few minutes of intense combat between the two animals they were both on their last legs. Gamabunta looked up at Shio and spoke " **Ha-ha-haa I am only good for around one more attack gaki, lets make it count."** Shio looked down at Gamabunta and nodded. Gamabunta's mouth swelled with oil and he spat it out in torrents at Aragog while Shio used the fireball jutsu to light the oil on fire, making a huge gout of flames at the spider.

Aragog quickly formed a large web in front of him while Menma went through hand signs and combined the web with his water chakra to create a huge wall of water that blocked the large sea of flames. As the steam cleared from the amount of flames hitting the cold water both Menma and Shio were panting as they gazed at each other from opposite sides of two cliff faces.

Shio lifted her head and back inside her room at the estate her shadow clone poofed into smoke. Nature chakra surged into Shio and she went into Sage-mode. As she entered sage mode she remembered a warning from pa about sage mode.

(Flashback)

Shio and Pa toad were sitting across from one another, Shio in sage mode as Pa observed. After a few minutes of sage mode she began to feel herself lose control of the energy before she felt a harsh smack of a stick on her head.

Pa looked proud of Shio "Well Shio-chan it looks like you are able to stay in sage mode for around five minutes before you begin to lose control of the energy. If you are forced to use senjutsu before you finish your training, make sure to only stay in the mode for five minutes only

(End Flashback)

Menma scowled as he felt the nature chakra enter Shio. He barely had any chakra left after blocking Gamabunta's flame toad bullet. He was thinking of his next action when he remembered something that Arachne told him.

(Flashback)

Arachne was standing in front of Menma as he practiced acid release "Naruto, come here." Naruto looked over curiously and walked closer to Arachne.

She smiled at him with her usual sleepy expression and spoke "I wanted to speak to you about learning partial spider transformation. This form usually takes around a year and a half to master. However there is another way to use it.

Naruto looked interested "How can I use the transformation without training for it sensei?"

Arachne spoke seriously "If you summoned me in battle, we could merge and I could force the transformation for a short period of time, around five minutes max in battle."

Naruto looked thoughtful "I will remember that sensei, thank you."

(End Flashback)

Menma went through some handseals "Summoning Jutsu: Arachne!" soon in a puff of smoke Arachne appeared. She smiled at him and nodded, already knowing what they wanted. She reached down and kissed him on the lips, merged with him.

Soon power exploded off of Naruto as the spider web pattern in his eyes seemed to glow and expand across his eyes and four pincer like claws exploded from his back and he felt fangs growing from his mouth. He also felt his muscles grow denser as he finished merging (The form is a male version of Elise from LoL).

Naruto and Shio stared at each other for a bit before dashing at each other and slammed their fists against one another and a shockwave blew the water away around them as they engaged in fierce taijutsu battle. Shio had the advantage of her frog kata and increased physical ability while Naruto had four extra appendages to fight with and his own increased strength.

They jumped around the battlefield, both sides never yielding as they continued to fight fiercely against one another.

As they fought they started to feel the other's reason for fighting. Naruto felt Shio's regret and determination to remove him of his hatred.

Shio felt Naruto's anger and sadness from being abandoned, but also his determination to prove himself stronger than her.

Soon after five minutes they both were facing each other, panting heavily, the extra features of senjutsu gone as they stared at each other.

Shio panted as she spoke "I only have enough chakra for one more Jutsu and I'm sure it is the same for you, lets end this." She lifted her hand a green rasengan formed in it, spiraling fiercely as it started to rain and thunder around them. She jumped forward and yelled "Rasengan!"

Naruto stretched both arms out, one gripping the other as a ball of incredibly toxic venom formed a sphere in his hands that had six legs and a dark red core (Arachne's soul). He jumped to meet Shio shouting "Queen Venom bomb!"

The attacks collided in a large blast of energy, the toxic bomb meeting the maelstrom of the rasengan. The two attacks fought against each other for dominance. Soon however both techniques exploded causing a massive implosion of the wind saturated chakra meeting the highly toxic acid.

When the explosion died down both Naruto and Shio were knocked unconscious on some fallen rubble side by side. The rain continued to fall on their forms as they ended the titanic battle.

Soon Minato Jumped down near them staring sadly at their two forms. He felt great sadness that they had to fight in such a titanic battle. They should be living happily together, not trying to kill each other.

He felt tears roll down his cheeks as he felt like a failure. What was the point of being the strongest ninja alive today if he couldn't even protect his family? He looked up at the rain in pain before he made a shadow clone to carry Naruto and Shio to the hospital.

(Inside Naruto's Mindscape)

Naruto opened his eyes to find himself laying on a large pond surrounded by forest. Around the pond were large Torii. He looked around and spotted a small fox with two tails sitting in front of him. The fox seemed to be looking at him with understanding and pity as it spoke " **Let us talk Naruto Uzumaki."**

 **And there is my evil cliffhanger. Man this battle was fun to write. I based Shio off of Yasuo and Canon Naruto. If anyone has any questions or suggestions please let me know.**


	9. Chapter 9: The Game of Life

**AN: greeting all, time for the 9** **th** **chapter of this story. I would also like to point out a few things. Naruto and Shio barely know any senjutsu atm. Shio can only maintain sage mode for 5 minutes and needs to remain still to do the sage sense. Not to mention as I will state further in this chapter that forcing an early sage mode will have consequences. Now to answer some questions in the reviews.**

 **Gartenswergxxl: No one will be godlike untill the final few chapters in the story (around the time when Naruto and Sasuke went full god mode). I am trying to make a core team of Konoha genin as strong as the lower tier Akatsuki by the start of Shippuden.**

 **Chivotenkai: I agree that their too young for it, however training in Sage mode at a younger age can help when their old enough for it. She can barely hold Sage mode on for 5 minutes, and she has been training in senjutsu for 2 years.**

 **Kaiokenkaizer: Kyuubi can stay in the seal because he wishes to be there. He is currently biding his time hidden from Madara to enact his plans. It is similar to at the end of Canon where the kyuubi stays with Naruto. As for how Shio beat Naruto, well she didn't. They tied because they both passed out. In addition it was a hard fight for Naruto because he does not have much melee combat abilities yet. Right now he is a pure long ranged fighter against Shio who specializes in it.**

 **Anyway those are all of the announcements for this chapter. I hope people will like the plot twist I have in this chapter kukuku (evil chuckles).**

 **Chapter 9:**

 **The Game of Life**

 **(Naruto's Mindscape – area unknown)(Naruto's POV)**

Naruto looked around the landscape before focusing back on the two tailed kitsune "Who are you, and where is this?"

The kitsune looked a bit amused before it spoke " **I am the former nine tailed fox, the great Kyuubi no Kitsune and we are in your mindscape."**

He felt his eyes widen "Why are you here when you should be sealed within my sister?"

The Kyuubi chuckled " **Yes, I should be sealed within your sister if I had not inserted a tiny portion of my chakra into you before I was sealed. As you grew so did the yokai chakra inside of you, allowing it to hold my consciousness."**

Naruto glared suspiciously at the Kyuubi "Why would you escape from Shio's seal just to seal yourself into me? Without a seal holding you back you could escape from my body easily."

The fox nodded " **Yes, I could escape from your body at any time, however I have no wish to do so. I gave up most of my chakra to move to your body so I am much weaker than before. Your body gave me anonymity from my enemies as well as a safe haven to restore my former strength."**

Naruto nodded, understanding the logic "And what happens when you recover your strength, will you attack Konoha again?"

The Kyuubi shook his head " **No, I have no interest in Konoha or its people. I was forced to attack Konoha by Madara Uchiha."**

He narrowed his eyes "Madara uchiha died years ago in the battle against the first hokage."

The Kyuubi's eyes glowed angrily " **That is a lie. Madara Uchiha is alive and forced me to attack Konoha. He also used his Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan eyes to force your parents to abandon you."**

Naruto's eyes widened and remembered what Anko once told him

(Flashback)

Anko looked at Menma seriously "No parents just spontaneously forgets and neglects their children. Even if they focused more on their sister they would never have forgotten you. It is not in human nature."

(End Flashback)

He had ignored her advice then, too caught up in his desire to revenge to give it much thought. But it did make sense. However he remembered from reading about the Shinto religion that Kitsunes were master manipulators. He looked at the Kyuubi "How do I know you're not just twisting the truth for your own benefit. I know that Kitsunes are masters of illusions and manipulation, how do I know that you weren't the one who cast the genjutsu on my parents."

He almost missed it but the Kyuubi's eyes flickered a bit with guilt before returning to his regular calm expression "That's it isn't it, you were the one who cast the genjutsu on my parents when you injected me with your yokai. Afterwards you would tell me it was Madara Uchiha to spark my rage towards him."

The Kyuubi sighed deeply " **You are smarter than I gave you credit for ningen. Yes, I used an illusion to force your parents to ignore your existence."**

In a flash Naruto had a chakra scalpel out and tried to cut the Kyuubi but nine balls of an ethereal flame stopped him. The Kyuubi had not even flinched " **Do not temp me ningen, despite only having a fraction of my former power I am more than enough to deal with you easily."**

Naruto scowled at the reason for his abandonment in hatred "Then why would you do it, why would you force my parents to abandon me? For your own sick amusement? ANSWER ME!"

The Kyuubi was silent for a few seconds before sighing heavily. If nothing else the boy in front of him disserved the truth " **Very well ningen, but know this. To understand my reasons for manipulating your life, we must go to the very beginning"** The world around them shifted until Naruto saw two giants, one male and one female, fighting each other. The male had an aged face with long white hair and wore a simple monk's robes with prayer beads adorning it. The women was beautiful with dark black hair and wore a beautiful white kimonoe. Their fight was on the level of gods, reshaping the earth, destroying continents, and obliterating anything caught in the crossfire. The Kyuubi appeared next to him and explained " **In the very first stages of our world, Izanagi fought his wife, Izanami. The argument was whether or not to share their powers with the humans of the world. Izanagi wished to share his power with the humans and spread peace while Izanami wished to rule over all humans with an iron fist and keep them weak and helpless. The battle shaped the world to how it is today. At the very end of the battle, Izanagi reined victorious over his former wife.**

The scene depicted the man stab a sword through the woman's heart. As she fell to the ground she glared up at her husband and issued a prophecy " **One day my husband, I will return to this world in one form or the other. You have only delayed my plans."**

Izanagi looked at his wife sadly before speaking " **You shall never walk amongst the land of the living my beloved, I banish you to Yami for the rest of eternity. You shall be the seal that protects this world from the realms beyond."**

Izanagi lifted a monks staff and a black void engulfed Izanami. Kyuubi continued his explanation " **However unkown to Izanagi at the time, is that Izanami had one last trump card. The seed of the a Shinju tree. The Shinju is a sentient tree that grows in the deepest regions of Yami. Anyone who eats the fruit of a Shinju will be terribly cursed, but gain tremendous power. Izanami injected a small piece of her power into the seed and buried it before she was sealed away."**

The scene shifted again to show numerous wars and bloodshed until a great tree emerged from the blood of the fallen warriors and grew to a huge height, a fruit that looked like a peach at the very top. The Kyuubi looked upon the scene sadly before continuing " **Eventually the Shinju tree grew from the blood of fallen warriors, producing its tainted fruit. It stayed there for many years before a princess, tired of the war and bloodshed ate the fruit and gained its power to end the wars in the world.**

The scene showed a black haired girl climbing to the top of the Shinju before gorging herself on the fruit. After it was eaten she fell to the ground in pain. Her hair and eyes turned white. She grew a third eye and horns and the Rabbit Goddess Kaguya was born. " **With the power of the Shinju she ruled the world fairly for a time. However, eventually the energies of Izanami began to twist Kaguya. Soon Kaguya became a tyrant and demon, enforcing her rule on the world with a heavy fist. With Izanami whispering in her ear she began to use the Shinju to drain the life force of her subjects, increasing her own power.**

 **Izanagi, finally stepping in to stop Kaguya, bestowed upon her sons two gifts, to the older Brother he gave the Rinnegan. To the younger brother he gave the Byakugan and the power to manipulate his body.**

 **When Kaguya learned of this she merged with the Shinju to create a terrible beast known as the Juubi.**

The scene showed a monstrous beast with ten tails battling two men. The battle continued for many days untill the older brother Hagoromo sealed the Juubi's chakra inside himself while his brother sealed the Juubi's body and in the moon and casted it out to space. " **After the battle both brothers were considered mortal gods. Hagoromo became known as the Sage of the Six Paths while his brother was hidden in obscurity. Eventually both brothers found wives and started families. These children eventually started the Uchiha, Senju, Hyuga, and Kaguya clans. Nearly a hundred years later on his deathbed, Hagoromo gathered 9 animal spirits he had befriended and gifted each of them a piece of the Juubi's chakra, creating the 9 Bijuu. I received the largest portion of the chakra. With his last breaths he told us to never let the Shinju be revived or it would drain all life on the planet, allowing Kaguya to escape from her prison.**

 **However, he also made his younger son, Asura his heir. This caused the feud between the Senju and Uchiha to fester for centuries. Eventually after years of fighting, the heir of the Uchiha and Senju clans, Madara and Hirashima made a truce to create a ninja village.**

 **Years later Madara found a tablet left behind by Hagaromo that spoke of the Juubi and its power. Corrupted by this knowledge he began to plan to become the Jinchuuriki of the Juubi like his ancestor. This led him to fake his death in his battle between Hiroshima and himself. In the shadows he began to make plans to gather the 9 bijuu. I had been sealed in Mito Uzumaki during the battle and that gave him the idea of Jinchuuriki. Gathering the nine bijuu by himself would be suicide, but kidnapping their sealed containers would be child's play. He manipulated the budding villages at the time to seal the Bijuu inside of humans and use them as weapons of war. While the nations battled each other he started to form his own organization, the Akatsuki. Now he hopes to revive the Juubi to become its Jinchuriki, becoming a mortal god like Hagaromo so long ago. What he does not know, however, is that the Juubi contains Kaguya and a bit of Izanami's essence, which would recreate the Shinju and absorb him, and all life in the elemental nations, weaking the seal on Izanami enough so she can escape, dooming all life on the planet."**

Naruto was wide eyed at this information, he had just learned the origin of the ninja world. He glared at the Kyuubi again "Who are you? A normal animal spirit would not know of all of this.

The Kyuubi chuckled and a spirit outline of a white fox with nine tails surrounded the Kyuubi " **You are correct young mortal, I was not just a fox spirit but the god of foxes, Inari Okami. I befriended Hagoromo and he sealed the largest piece of the Juubi into me for safekeeping."**

Naruto felt a bit confused "Are you saying a god was able to be subjugated by Madara to do as he wished?"

Inari winced " **An unforeseen complication. The Juubi chakra contained within me allowed him to control me. I assume Hagoromo knew this but thought that the Sharingan could be used to stop us if we went on a rampage. Instead it was used to enslave the bijuu. It was for this reason I gave up my chakra to enter you. I am now free from the Juubi's chakra and restored to my previous position as the fox god, Inari Okami."**

The god bowed its head in shame " **However, I was very weak. Any opponent that killed you would have taken me with you. So I had to give you the one gift that would have protected you, Anonymity. As the son of Minato Namikaze, you would have been exposed to assassination attempts and much more enemies than a nameless orphan. This gave me enough time to gather enough strength to protect myself."**

Naruto understood the reasons why Inari would do what he did, that does not mean that he had to like it. "So your telling me that you made my life hell just so I could be some pawn in the god's game of life?!"

Inari seemed to look at him in pity " **Yes, from the moment you were born you were chosen to be one of the three prophecy children to save this world from the resurrection of Izanami."**

The mindscape seemed to shift and revert back to the pond and a door appeared behind Naruto.

Inari stood in the middle of the lake and spoke " **You may hate me Naruto, but I did what is necessary. If Izanami-no-Okami is revived, the world is doomed."**

Naruto looked back at the fox before turning around and walked through the door.

(Konoha Hospital)(Minato's POV)

Minato sighed as he gazed at the unconscious figure of his estranged son. He had run a blood test on Menma and found out that he is Naruto Uzumaki. However what worried him is the other DNA found in his blood. The doctors reported it seems as if someone or something took a chunk out of Naruto's DNA and replaced it. The medic-nin who did the blood test theorized that the extra DNA is the reason for his changed appearance.

Shio had woken up several hours after the battle and received a severe tongue lashing and grounding for being so reckless. When she had described the battle they were amazed at their former son's skills. Minato assumed that Naruto was the new spider summoner that the toads had been hearing rumors about. When he had heard that Shio had used rudimentary senjutsu against Naruto he almost flipped. Senjutsu is an incredibly dangerous skill. If one is not old enough to contain the energies they could turn to stone. However he was surprised when he heard that Naruto merged with some summoned woman and entered a form of sage mode himself. He assumed it was similar to when Ma or Pa would merge with Jiraiya and gather sage chakra as he fought.

Still, Shio was feeling the stress of her sage mode by being sore in every single one of her muscles. The price of going into sage mode to early is that the body cannot handle the strain, causing ripped muscles and other injuries. She was lucky she did not go over the limit or she could have been crippled.

He perked up as he saw Naruto stirring and opening his eyes

(Naruto's POV)

Naruto opened his eyes to see the white room of the hospital. He looked around and saw his former father sitting there. He was surprised to feel none of the hatred he formerly felt for the man. He guessed all of his hatred was not directed at Madara, Inari, and the rest of the gods. Deep down he knew Minato was not at fault, who could resist the genjutsu of a god? Especially the god of foxes who specialize in illusions?

He struggled to sit up, he was still feeling the after effects of using sage mode without training. By fusing with Arachne she forces the process of transformation, which is very taxing on the body. He looked at Minato again and waited for the man to speak.

Minato seemed to gather his thoughts together before he spoke "I grew up an orphan. My parents died during the second shinobi war and I was put in an orphanage. It was not a bad childhood, but living without parents is a very lonely existence. When I married Kushina I swore I would give my children the best childhood that I missed out on. Then you were born and we were so happy. I had just become Hokage and thought life could not get better."

He seemed to grow weary and sighed heavily before he continued "Then the Kyuubi attack happened as your sister was born. Everything was such a mess, Kushina fighting for her life in the hospital, my daughter now a jinchuuriki for the strongest of the Bijuu and the Third Hokage dead."

He seemed to contemplate how to continue before he spoke again "Recently, Kushina and I felt as if a genjutsu was lifted. We cannot be sure who placed the illusion other that it must have been incredibly powerful for us to notice."

Unknown to Minato but his words confirmed what Inari had said in his mindscape. Naruto looked out the window as he considered Minato's words "Ever since I was five and I was locked out of the estate I swore revenge against your family." Minato winced at his former son's words but let him continue. "I trained every day to prove that I was better than my sister. I knew she was going to get training from at least four kage level ninja. So I practiced what she would not expect, medical ninjutsu, poisons, and other subjects. But now I've recently learned that my parents were under a genjutsu the entire time and that it was not entirely their fault." He paused unsure how to continue before speaking again "I do not have any more hatred towards your family Minato-san." Minato looked resigned as he figured that Naruto was not done, he was correct.

He continued "But I do not think that I can ever be a true part of your family. All those years of hating your existence cannot be erased so easily."

Minato sighed resignedly "I thought as much. However know that you have the full support of our family if you need it. You can also come back to the estate any time you wish if you want to interact with the family again. However I would expect a visit from Kushina soon, she was nearly broken about learning that we had abandoned you, even unintentionally."

He nodded, he had expected that.

Minato stood up and was about to leave the room before turning back "I am proud of the man you are today, Naruto." He left the room.

As the door closed Naruto closed his eyes a bit and thought of the situation, he felt so confused, should he hate Izanami for causing all of this? Madara for continueing her work? Or Inari for serving the greater good in separating him from his family.

He looked around the room and saw a small spider on the window and smiled a bit "Arachne?"

In a poof of smoke Arachne was in the room sitting on the chair that Minato vacated, a concerned look on her face. He explained the situation and what he had learned from Inari as she sat there and listened quietly. When he had finished she reached out and hugged him as she stroked his hair "It is alright to be confused Naruto. However all you can do is look to the future and decide your own destiny. Even if the gods had planned your life does not mean you have to follow your path to their wishes. You can be whatever you wish to. What the gods never understood is that humanity's greatest gift is to not be bound by the strings of fate. You can adapt, grow, and gain experience to meet this threat head on. I have faith in the summoner of the spider clan that you can break the web binding you to the god's plan and find your own path." She kissed him on the forehead and sat with him looking out the window, thinking of the situation and how to proceed.

 **AN2: Whew, that was a hard chapter to write. So the full truth is revealed. What I did not like about canon is that they never explained how the Shinju came to be. I hope people are satisfied how the story is progressing. I will not have Kushina and Minato be immature and acting as if they are high school students like I see in other fanfictions. However, Naruto will not make an ass of himself rejecting every little thing and constantly insulting his former family. Naruto is mature enough to understand that it was not their fault and Minato understands his son's hesitance to be a part of their family. Anyway see you in the next chapter!**


	10. Chapter 10: Clarity and Chunin Exams

**AN: Greetings all! Time for the 10** **th** **chapter of the series. I do not have any important announcements so I will go straight to answering some questions in the reviews.**

 **Calebros: The Juubi's portion of chakra is still inside of Shio. It is the reason that she can now sense emotions and has a greater aptitude for senjutsu.**

 **Tsukoblue: Shio is the main pairing. However I am not planning on starting any romance until mid shippuden.**

 **Guest: The Spider Bomb Jutsu series was inspired a bit by Kisame's shark style jutsu and Deidera's bomb jutsu. What Naruto does is inject a highly explosive acid in the middle of the water spider. When the spider crashed into an enemy, the acid will explode. The Queen Spider bomb that he used in the final clash is a bit different. The Queen Spider bomb is formed out of pure chakra like the rasengan, and wraps around the same explosive toxin. When in contract with an enemy the orb crashed into an enemy with blunt force, then the toxin explodes in front of the user, even more explosive with the chakra in the sphere.**

 **Now time to get into the story!**

 **Chapter 10:**

 **Clarity and Chunin Exams**

(On top of Konoha Monument)(3 day after being released from the hospital)(Naruto's POV)

Naruto stood on top of the Third Hokage's head and looked out towards the village. It was raining lightly so he had his hood up. His entire life had changed drastically over the past few days. The fight with his sister, the revelation of Inari, and the visit from his parents while in the hospital. He closed his eyes as he remembered the conversation he had with his mother.

(Flashback)

Minato had left an hour ago before he felt another presence though his chakra webs. He sighed a bit before the door open and revealed his former mother, Kushina Uzumaki. She did not look well. Her hair was uncombed and her eyes were red and puffy. Before he could say anything she rushed at him and hugged him while crying. He didn't know what to do 'I don't know how to deal with this' he thought. Kushina managed to speak through her tears "Sochi I am so sorry! We never meant to abandon you!"

He awkwardly pat her on the back as she continued to apologize for his abandonment. Eventually she managed to pull herself together a bit to speak clearly "When I realized that you were gone I felt so horrible. Both Minato and I know how it is to grow up without parents, and to unknowingly bestow the same fate to our son." She seemed to lose a bit of her composer and started to cry again.

Naruto's gaze softened a bit as he observed his mother. This was further proof that they did not intentionally abandon him. No would could fake that kind of sadness. He sighed a bit and spoke "When I learned that you abandoned me due to a genjutsu, I did not know what to think. After Minato explained his childhood, I doubted either of you would ever abandon me purposely." He looked down and touched his web markings "If you had not forgotten me I would have never have become as skilled in the subjects that I am today. I would never have met the spider clan, or would I have met Anko."

He looked at the hopeful face of Kushina "I used to hate you two. It was my purpose for growing strong. I swore when I was locked out of the house to become stronger than all of you. But now my hatred for you has disappeared. However, I doubt I can ever think of you or Minato as my parents."

Kushina started crying silently again but nodded in understanding. Naruto lifted his hand and smiled a bit "But that does not mean we can't be friend."

Kushina looked a bit shocked but laughed a bit and shook Naruto's hand "Sure!"

(End Flashback)

He was still in thought when he heard footsteps behind him and he opened his eyes to see his teammate Lee. Lee smiled a bit "I thought you would be here."

Naruto returned to looking out at Konoha "I like to come here to think."

Lee walked up next to him "You seem to be coming up here a lot."

He snorted a bit and smirked "That just means I have a lot to think about."

Lee grinned "I know how to clear some of your questions"

He looked at Lee curiously as he followed him to a training ground. Lee spun around in the Goken stance "In the midst of battle you will be able to relight your flames of youth!"

Naruto looked confused a bit before he laughed "Are you sure you want to fight me dead-last?"

Lee grinned wider as he charged forward at blistering speeds "I am sure I can provide a worthy challenge Mr. Rookie of the year."

He grinned wider and reinforced his body with the numerous toxins in his blood and rushed forward to meet Lee's punch.

(1 hour later)

Both Lee and Naruto are laying in the practice field exhausted when they both looked up to see Yakumo and Anko's smiling faces. They all started to laugh and joke around while Naruto was inwardly thinking 'I can't see you guys as family because I already have a perfect one right here.'

(Konoha Academy)(Day of the Chunin Exams)(5 hours before exam)(Naruto's POV)

Naruto, Lee and Yakumo are walking through the hallways of the Academy making their way to the third floor for the first test of the Chunin exams. They had arrived early to spy on the competition and find a good unnoticeable position. Over the past few days they saw many foreign genin teams from across the five great villages and nobles arrive in Konoha for the exams. It was a miracle that no incidents were reported besides a small altercation with a Suna and Konoha team.

They all noticed the small genjutsu on the second floor but Naruto quickly whispered "Don't point it out, the less competition the better."

Team 9 soon arrived at the testing room and saw there were not many teams in the room this early. There was only teams from Kumo, Sand, Kiri, and Iwa. The Kumo team had a blond with generous, er, assets alongside a red haired tanned skin girl and a tanned boy with white hair sucking on a lollipop.

The suna team consisted of a makeup wearing boy in a onesie, a blond girl with a large fan on her back, and a red haired teal eyed boy with a large gourd on his back.

The Kiri team had a boy wearing sound dampeners with a large fish shaped two handled sword on his back wrapped in bandages, a flamboyant looking boy in a large blue coat, and a tanned boy with a trident strapped to his back.

The Iwa team was the same team they had seen on their first C-rank mission. Naruto assumed that Iwa held them back to participate in this exam to demonstrate their strength.

None of the teams spoke to each other as more and more teams trickled in. Naruto recognized all of this year's rookie genin teams. Nothing interesting happened until Shio's team entered. Shio had been teamed up with Sasuke Uchiha and Kiba Inuzaka. He kept looking around the room before he heard his name.

"I would like to know the information on Mito Gekko, Gaara of the desert, and Menma."

He looked at the group again and saw team 7 standing before someone he recognized. He walked over before Kabuto could say anything "Ah, hey Kabuto, never thought I would see you outside of the hospital."

Naruto had met Kabuto while working part time at the hospital. They often discussed different medical practices and theories.

Shio looked up surprised at seeing her brother "Oh! Hey nar- I mean Menma how do you know Kabuto?"

Kabuto pushed up his glasses a bit "I know Menma-kun from working at the Hospital, we usually work shifts together. Anyway, the information." He pulled out a card "Mito Gekko, daughter of two of the premier swordsmen and swordswomen of Konoha, Hayate Gekko and Yaguo Uzumi. She was almost the Kunoichi of the year last year but lost due to her lower marks in genjutsu and throwing skills. She has been on 5 C-ranks and 48 d-ranks. It says here that her kenjutsu skills are off the charts, as expected growing up with two masters of the art. Her teammates are Neji Hyuga and Tenten.

Naruto kept an eye on the crowd as Kabuto listed the information and saw that the teams from Kumo and Kiri were interested in the kenjutsu information. As expected since those two villages were renowned for their kenjutsu users.

Kabuto pulled out the second card "Gaara of the Desert, not much information on him seeing as he is from a foreign village but I have here that he has come back from every mission without a scratch, even on a b-rank mission." Everyone's eyes widen at that information.

The white haired medic pulled out a third card "Menma, one of the only orphans besides Minato Namikaze to become rookie of the year. Specilizes in poisons and medical ninjutsu. He has been on one A-rank mission, which is very impressive, and 10 c-ranks and 67 d-ranks. His teammates are Yakumo Kurama and Rock Lee." Kabuto kept monologueing information but Menma had lost interest and was observing the crowd.

Soon after a small incident with some sound genin in a poof of smoke several chunin and Morino Ibiki appeared out of a shunshin. He quieted the room with his mere presence and barked out orders "Alright all you little brats, I am the examiner of the first section of the Chunin exams. The first part of the exam is a written test. Everyone starts out with 10 points, if anyone is caught cheating they will lose half their points." Soon after everyone was settled Naruto found himself between Kurotsuchi and the boy from Kumo.

15 minutes into the test and Naruto could only answer three questions, each requiring about jonin level poison expertise or doctor level medical knowledge. He discretely glanced around the room at all of the Chunin watchers. Why would they go to such great lengths to try and detect cheating. Ibiki could probably tell if anyone was trying to cheat him by himself blindfolded. He glanced towards the competitors nearest him and widened his eyes minutely when he saw Shiori Nara a few places away from him. He knew for a fact that she had graduated from the Chunin exams last year. So why is she here…? He thought back to Ibiki's words.

'Anyone **caught** cheating will lose half their points.' Why not just remove the person who cheated emediately? That is what they did back in the academy. He paused, what if they want us to cheat? He discretely looked around at some people and saw a few genin discretely cheat, good for genin, but someone like Ibiki could easily spot it. He assumed that their cheating strategies were good enough for chunin so the proctors did not point it out. He smirked a bit.

Closing his eyes he spread his chakra web around him and latched onto the tenketsu points of Shiori's hand and began to copy her hand movement on the questions. He was sure that at least one of the guards around him could sense his chakra being used, but he doubted they would call him out on it since it was not obvious.

He glanced at Lee near the front sitting next to Hinata. He was sure that Lee was too honorable to cheat on the test so he decided to give him a helping hand. Acting as if he was thinking he bit his thumb and went through some handseals disguised as cracking his knuckles and in a smokeless summon summoned two small spiders. One went to Yakumo while the other went to Lee. The spider landed on the desk and spun a small web detailing the answer to some of the shorter questions. Once three were filled for Lee he dismissed the spiders. That was enough points to pass the test.

Soon after the dramatic 10th question the proctor of the next exam, their sensei Anko, led them to the Forest of Death. Anko began to scare the poor genins with her antics while she explained the test.

Anko held up two scrolls "Alright you maggots, the purpose of this test is to survive for five days in the forest behind me. While surviving the forest your goal is to gather a heaven and an earth scroll before proceeding to the tower in the middle of the forest. However, before we begin the test I would like all of you to sign these wavers, you know in case you die."

There was some grumblings but everyone signed the waver and was given a scroll. When Menma signed the waver and got a heaven scroll for the team he smirked a bit as an idea came to him. He raised the scroll over his head and shouted "HEY! Our team has a heaven scroll!"

Nearly everyone around him looked at him as if he was an idiot but the proctors and judges of the test looked at him speculatively. What the genin around him did not realize is that he had protected his team from half the competition. No team would want to waste energy and a potential defeat on a team they knew had the scroll they did not need. With that stunt team 9 had become one of the best protected teams in the competition, while simultaneously luring only teams they needed to themselves.

As they lined up at an entrance to the forest he smirked a bit as he felt the small chakra of one of his spiders attached to the two genin team's whose gates were closest to theirs. As soon as the horn blared he motioned for their team to follow the chakra signature that his spider was emitting and soon crouched on a tree above a rain village team. They observed the team a bit and smirked as one as the leader took out an earth scroll.

Without having to be told Yakumo did some handseals and trapped the team in a genjutsu. Naruto took out two syringes full of knock out venom and jumped down, landing on two of the genins and stabbing them in a major artery, effectively taking them out of the competition while Lee appeared behind the last member and chopped him in the back of the neck, knocking him out as well.

Yakumo smirked as they took the Earth scroll "That was easy."

Naruto looked around suspiciously "Too easy, I say that we start heading to the central tower before teams get desperate enough to surround it looking for people with both scrolls."

After three hours of running, dodging wild animals, and avoiding teams with his chakra web sensing they arrived at a small clearing. Naruto looked around "We should rest here for now, we want to be at full strength if we encounter another team."

Lee nodded "Yes it would be best if we wait for our flames of youth to replenish before continuing on to the tower."

Yakumo nodded, already understanding Youth-speak to understand his meaning "We should lay some traps while we rest, even with your web we don't know if a team has the ability to counter or negate it."

Menma nodded and his eye's glinted as he remembered one of the traps he wished to test "I have the perfect thing."

Both Lee and Yakumo looked curiously as Naruto took out a black scroll and unsealed several….mushrooms? Yakumo looked hesitantly at the shrooms "And what do these mushrooms do?"

Naruto chuckled evilly "If anyone steps on one of these it will explode sending a cloud of paralytic poison into the air, forcing the person who stepped on it to inhale it. No one will be able to sneak up on us with these around us kukuku" (Unkown to team 9, but in a different dimension every person classified as a jungler flinched simultaneously while a small yordle chuckled evily as he waited for more people to fall to his shrooms of death).

(Three hours later 9 PM)

Team 9 had entered the tower and opened their scrolls which turned out to be summoning scrolls for a chunin to explain the scrolls to them and explained that they had to stay in the tower for the next three days.

Time inside the tower moved slowly for the team as there wasn't much to do. They could not train in case they were spied on by an enemy team.

After the five days were up the teams that had passed were Kurotsuchi's team, the kumo team with the lollipop sucking boy, the Kiri team with the boy with sound dampeners, the suna team with the red haired boy, team 8, team 11, Kabuto's team, and team 12. Team 7 had arrived with only a few hours to go for the competition. He was slightly surprised that Shio's team was the last to arrive. However when he saw them enter Sasuke and Mito looked pretty roughed up and Shio seemed tired. He guessed they had fought a strong team and only barely won.

Soon the proctors called all the teams to the arena in the tower and everyone prepared for the next event.

(Tower Arena)(Naruto's POV)

All of the teams were lined up in front of the Hokage and a group of jonin. Minato stepped forward and explained the rules of the competition "I am glad to see so much potential in one room. However, we have too many competitors to make it to the final round. In order to resolve this we are doing a preliminary round."

Minato then proceeded to give a speech about how the chunin exams were a replacement for war. A sickly looking man stepped forward and spoke "I will take it over –caugh- from here Hokage-sama. My name is Hayate Gekko and I will be the proctor for the preliminary round. The rules are simple, each battle will be a duel against a random opponent. The first person to surrender or be unable to fight will be out of the competition."

He pressed a button on a remote and a screen emerged from the wall "The first two opponents will be…"

The screen flashed with two names:

Sasuke Uchiha vs Yoroi Akado

The fight was not that impressive to Naruto. He was expecting more from the Uchiha heir. Although it appeared as if he was injured from the forest so his injuries could be inhibiting his performance. Although the move at the end was impressive. It appeared as if Sasuke made a swordless copy of the three crescent slash that the Gekko family was known to use.

The next match made many of the Konoha and Iwa members present widen their eyes

Shino Aburame vs Kamizuro Suzumebachi

The feud between the Aburame and Suzumebachi clans was legendary. It was almost to the level of the Uchiha-Senju feud. Ever since the Aburame killed most of the Suzumebachi clan members in the first war they have hated each other.

Soon Shino and Kamizuro stood across from each other. Soon many bugs were swarming around both genin. The battle was intense as neither side wanted to lose. Beatles against Bees clashed in the air as both genin directed them. However similarly to the last war, Shino's beatles were swarming each bee, taking them down due to sheer numbers over the larger bugs. Eventually Shino stood victorious over Kamizuro, the corpses of many dead bees around them.

Misumi Tsurugi vs Kankuro

The battle was quick and brutal. Misumi demonstrated his family skill of turning his arms to rubber and was prepared to break Kankuro's neck when it was revealed that "Kankuro" was a puppet that broke many of Misumi's bones in a twisted hug.

Sakura Haruno vs Ino Yamanaka

This battle was pathetic to Naruto. Despite Sakura's good usage of genjutsu, probably taught by her sensei Kurenai and Ino's use of her families jutsu, they were barely genin level with their taijutsu and ninjutsu.

Temari vs Shio Uzumaki-Namikaze

Naruto raised his eyebrow at the matchup as the two girls walked to the arena. It was obvious that Temari was a wind user with her giant fan. But he also knew that Shio was one of the best wind users in Konoha besides Asuma Sarutobi.

The match started like he suspected, Temari opened her fan and unleashed a great burst of wind at Shio while she unsealed her Nodachi and cut the wall of wind. It seemed both opponents were testing each other's wind affinity as they repeatedly blasted each other with wind. Naruto noticed that Temari seemed to specialize in the "force" of wind while Shio specializes in the "cutting" aspect of wind.

Soon Shio did one of her best moves, she used a wind cut to force Temari to jump into the air, which is what the Konoha genin was aiming for. Her sword glows green and she jumped into the air at great speeds and slashed at Temari repeatedly with the back of her sword. Shio landed gracefully and sheathed her sword while muttering "Majestic slash of the rising vortex." Temari fell to the ground unconscious with many long bruises all over her body.

All of the Konoha genin cheered for their fellow genin and waited for the next match.

Shikamaru Nara vs Kin Tsuchi

The match was more a battle of brains than brawn as Shikamaru out smarted the sound genjutsu using genin with his shadow mimic jutsu. Shikamaru proceeded to slam Kin's head against the wall of the arena, knocking her unconscious rather easily.

Kiba Inuzaka vs Samui

Naruto wanted to facepalm as the match progressed. Kiba seemed more distracted by Samui's breasts than the actual match. While Samui displayed brilliant sword play she realy did not need it with how Kiba was distracted. Eventually she countered Kiba's fang over fang with her storm release. Naruto assumed the storm release is a mix of water and air to create lightning clouds in the arena, which bombarded Kiba after he mistakenly grabbed Samui's chest.

Then came the next match:

Neji Hyuga vs Menma

Both genin looked at each other, Neji hatefully and Menma emotionlessly. Neji had hated him ever since he had stolen his spot for rookie of the year. Any time they met up Neji would say he was doomed for failure due to being a clanless orphan.

Soon they stood before each other and took there stances. Neji in the gentle fist style and Menma with his chakra scalpels. Once the match started they both ran at each other with high speeds and began a taijutsu battle. Neither put force behind their strikes and were extremely technical in their strikes.

(Up in the stands)

Sakura who had recovered from her match with Ino when he turned to his teacher "Kakashi-sensei, why are they not trying to attack each other forcefully?"

Kakashi looked up from his book and spoke "Neither of their styles of combat require forceful taijutsu. Neji is using his family's "gentle fist" style which focuses on striking the internal organs and tenketsu points of the body by injecting chakra into the opponent's body. On the other hand Menma is using an uncommon medic fighting style that resolves around the medical ninjutsu chakra scalpels. Menma can use those scalpels to cut open the internal organs of the body with just a light touch."

Shio shivered as she remembered two arms out of the lake clutching her ankles.

(Back in the Arena)

Neji and Naruto quickly separetes. Naruto glances down at his arm and tsked when he noticed several finger sized bruises on his tenketsu spots.

Neji is clutching his arm as he had cut the tendons on it. Naruto went through some handseals before thinking 'Acidic Bubbles' breathing out copious amount of bubbles towards Neji.

Many people in the audience snickered at the perceived weak attack until one popped near the wall and the concrete started to dissolve. Soon all of the bubbles began to streak towards Neji.

Neji inwardly frowned 'I haven't mastered this but I have no choice.' He started spinning until a chakra dome surrounded him, preventing any of the acid bubbles from hitting him. When he stopped spinning he quickly had to duck as Naruto swung his arm at where his neck would have been moments before and twisted in mid duck and struck four tenketsu points on Naruto's chest. He frowned a bit as the Naruto started to melt in a purple puddle and jumped away as Naruto tried to jab him from behind.

Unknown to Neji however is that medical chakra was surging into his locked tenketsu on his previously closed off arm. As Neji charged forward Naruto quickly dodged the palm thrust and then quickly jabbed with his previously sealed arm, hitting Neji near the lungs with the chakra scalpel.

Blood burst from Neji's mouth as he fell backwards. As soon as Menma was declared the winner he began to heal Neji's wounds. He looked up at the board and saw the next match and worried a bit.

Gaara vs Rock Lee

 **And that's chapter 10. I want to answer a few questions I know people will have with this chapter. Yes Sasuke did get marked by the curse seal by Orochimaru. I did not show the fight because frankly I find the 2** **nd** **task extremely dull. I made it seem easy for team 9 because it was in a way. Naruto already knew the forest of death because of Anko's training and had marked a team with an earth scroll. If the suna team could do it in 47 minutes I doubt there is much distance from the start of the forest to the tower.**

 **I also want to give a small description of the OC enemy teams.**

 **Gengata Hozuki**

 **Kiri Genin**

 **Bio: Direct descendant from the 2** **nd** **Mizukage. He joined the rebels when they hunted him for his bloodline.**

 **Skills: Has great skill in genjutsu like his ancestor. He also holds the clam summoning contract. As any kiri ninja he has great skill with water ninjutsu.**

 **Appearance: With gelled back blond hair and the 2** **nd** **Mizukage's kimonoe/trench coat he looks like a younger version of Gengetsu Hozuki.**

 **Umi**

 **Kiri Genin**

 **Bio: Child of a fisherman he grew up an orphan due to the war. He used his father's old trident in combination with his unique style of ninjutsu to become a known force during the civil war.**

 **Skills: Excellent water style user. He has incorporated his Trident in a unique style of ninjutsu known as Wave style.**

 **Appearance: Has long black hair in a spiked up style. His skin is tanned from staying outdoors on the water so much. He wears an open blue jacket with shorts and long sash belt.**

 **Mito Gekko**

 **Konoha Genin**

 **Bio: Child born between two of the best kenjutsu experts in the village. She was raised to be a swordswomen and strives to become better than her parents.**

 **Skills: Despite lacking in ninjutsu and thrown weaponry she excels at her fathers sword style, the "Crescent Leaf Blade style."**

 **Appearance: She has long purple haired tied in a ponytail with pure black eyes. She wears a dark purple sleeveless shirt, black shinobi pants, and combat boots. She also wears a purple scarf that slightly covers her mouth.**


	11. Chapter 11: Preliminaries part 2

**AN: Greetings everyone. I hope everyone has been enjoying the story so far. I do not have any announcements again so I will go straight to the reviews.**

 **Maximo Core – I forgot about Darui's storm release. I will call Darui's ninjutsu Laser Release (since that's basically what it is). Samui's Storm release or I guess you could call it cloud release focuses on making storm clouds to shoot lightning, rain, or hail from.**

 **Okiro Benihime – In the back story Jiraiya began to learn Senjutsu at what appears to be around 15 years old. That makes Shio and Naruto just two years before they can learn it. That is why they can briefly use a less powerful version for five minutes. In terms with the spider contract not being made for combat. I said that they were not the most suited for it, not that they can't. In a straight battle against a clan such as the Snakes a spider would lose since they do not have many battle options besides their pincers and webs.**

 **Ncpfan – The scene with Kushina was short yes, but it is not over between them. Kushina is just mature enough to give him time to adjust to having a family again. As I said before in a pm to you I want to keep Inari a secret from the other chars so Naruto's anonymity will remain.**

 **Calebros – The Kyuubi was always Inari. Inari was given the largest piece of the Juubi's chakra which transformed him into the Kyuubi. Naruto and Shio will get benefits from their respective being inside of them, but not until late Shippuden. I won't tell you any powers or benefits they receive because damn spoilers.**

 **Anyway on to the story!**

 **Chapter 11:**

 **Preliminaries Part 2**

Rock Lee vs Gaara

Naruto ended his healing hands on Neji as doctors came forward to collect him and contemplated the match up as he walked back to the 2nd floor. From Kabuto's information Gaara is either incredibly skilled or incredibly lucky to get out of all those missions without a scratch. Naruto knew Lee was good, leagues better than him in Taijutsu. But if this guy had a move that could negate Lee's taijutsu… he worried.

(Lee's POV)

Lee stood before the red haired genin and got into his goken stance "Yosh! Let us have a youthful battle!"

Some genin looked confused at what Lee was saying while Yakumo sighed.

Gaara looked at Lee emotionlessly while the cork on his gourd popped out at great speed at the Konoha genin. Lee caught the cork and smirked a bit "Let's not be so hasty."

Hayate looked between the two genin before raising his arm "Hajime!"

In a great burst of speed Lee disappeared and re-appeared behind Gaara with a drop kick. However before the heel could hit Gaara's head sand blocked the leg and Lee had to jump away before the sand swarmed him.

(In the stands)

'Sand?' questioned Naruto to himself. The medic wondered if that was a mutation of the Sabaku magnet release. As Naruto watched the battle of Lee constantly using high speed movement to dodge and try and hit Gaara he noticed that Gaara made no move himself to control the sand. 'Is it automatic? Impossible, even the Third Kazekage was known to have to use great chakra control and focus to use his Iron Sand. He continued to watch curiously as Gaara seemed to do the impossible and control his sand in an automatic defense.'

Naruto was shook from his contemplations when Anko yelled from beside him "OI Gaki! Take them off!"

(Arena)

Lee separated from Gaara and glanced at his sensei "But sensei, you told me not to take them off unless I am fighting an enemy shinobi!"

Anko looked down at him "What the hell do you think you're doing? Pound his ass dumbass!"

Some of the people who were not used to Anko's antics sweatdropped at the language she used.

He nodded and quickly jumped to a safe distance away from Gaara and unclipped his leg and arm bracers and held them to both sides, wanting to show off for the judges a bit."

Kankuro looked at the leg bracers and commented "What will that do for him if he takes those off" She would have continued but Lee dropped the weights with an earth shattering boom and severely dented the floor.

Kakashi deadpanned at the scene and looked at Anko in a commiserating way "Was that much weight really needed in his training Anko?"

Anko grinned savagely "It was Gai's original idea, I had my other gaki draw up some chakra weight seals and apply them to his arm and leg bracers. He has been adding weight to them for over a year."

Lee grinned menacingly at Gaara who seemed a bit flummoxed at the weight and disappeared in an instant. The automatic sand shield barely got there in time as Lee's leg hit, breaking through the defense easily and kicked Gaara away.

Kankuro looked shocked that someone had actually managed to hit Gaara.

Gaara got up shakily as he looked at his cheek, which was heavily cracked and flaking as the sand shield around his body mended. Gaara glanced back up only to see a foot that was too fast to be stopped by his sand and went hurtling backwards again, only to be stopped by the other leg of Lee and sent him straight at the statue at the back of the room.

Naruto looked upon the scene with a bit of pride. Gai had originally only wanted Lee to wear leg weights, but Anko insisted that he wear arm weights as well. This allowed Lee to increase his speed to mid jonin level.

Gaara walked out of the dust that had kicked up from the kick and looked heavily cracked. Gaara raised both his arms and sand started to shoot up from the ground and his gourd and rushed at Lee.

Lee started to do some serious acrobatics as he frantically dodged the sea of sand rushing at him and kept trying to get to Gaara. Lee took out his nun-chucks and used them as a shield and a weapon against the sand as he spun them around to beat the sand away as he charged towards Gaara. However, there was just too much sand in the arena for Lee to get through, frustrated he retreated to a sand free corner and cross his arms in concentration.

Kakashi widened his eyes at that stance and looked to Anko incredulous as said jonin smirked widely.

Lee uncrossed his arms and power exploded around him "First gate, gate of opening, open!" Soon Lee was hurtling towards Gaara and smashing through walls of sand before kicking Gaara and in the Chin and jumped up behind Lee and did a spinning flying suplex while shouting "Primary Lotus!"

When the smoke cleared from the move it showed a broken sand Shell which vaguely looked like Gaara. Lee panted a bit from the backlash of using the first gate but was able to barely dodge a wave of sand that came behind him as Gaara emerged from a pile of sand looking a little haggard.

Lee, knowing he had no choice, crossed his arm over his face and concentrated.

Kakashi revealed his Sharingan eye, wide eyed as he viewed Lee. Anko looked at him seriously "Don't even try to judge me Kakashi, I allowed Gai to teach him the Hidden lotus for one reason, that kid can take it. If anyone is worthy to learn that move, it's this kid."

Lee uncrossed his arms as even more chakra exploded from him as his skin turned red and his eyes lost their irises

"Second gate, Gate of Healing: Open!"

"Third gate, Gate of Life: Open!"

"Fourth gate, Gate of Pain: Open!"

With those gates open it seemed as if there were multiple Lee kicking and punching Gaara around the arena, battering the suna genin. Eventually Gaara crashed into the ground, badly hurt as Lee could barely stand from using that technique. He looked at Gaara and saw him still conscious, lifting his hand to surely crush the weakened genin. Lee panicked for a second before remembering something before the chunin exams.

(Flashback)

Lee and Naruto were standing in a training field, resting after a sparring session. Naruto spoke up "You know Lee, if you face an opponent immune to Taijutsu, you need something to fall back on."

Lee looked confused "But I have my nun-chucks Menma, why would I need something else?"

Naruto looked at his teammate seriously "There are some opponents completely immune to physical damage, you need something that can damage people like that, here." Naruto handed a pouch full of what appeared to be smoke bombs to Lee.

Lee took one of the smoke bombs out and looked at it curiously and Naruto explained "Each one of those is a powerful knock out poison, if you fight an opponent who can stop your taijutsu, use it."

Lee nodded, looking thoughtful as he stared at the smoke bombs.

(End Flashback)

Lee quickly unsealed one of the smoke bombs and with all of his remaining strength threw the small ball at Gaara right before the sand hit him. Everything seemed to freeze as the ball exploded on Gaara, allowing the red haired sand user to inhale the smoke.

Right as Gaara went unconscious Lee muttered "I won…" He could barely stand and he felt as if all his muscles were on fire but he won against someone who was clearly a natural genius. However before he could celebrate his leg and arm were brutally crushed by sand. Everyone looked shocked as they saw Gaara shakily stand up, barely able to stand. Before Gaara could do any more damage to Lee, Minato flashed with his Hirashin and stopped the second wave of sand before it hit downed genin. Baki shouted at Gaara "Gaara! Stand down!" Gaara glared up at the suna jonin before all of the sand in the room converged on him, reforming his armor and gourd before slowly walking back up to the balcony.

Naruto quickly jumped down to Lee with his healing palms already glowing a deep green. He did not understand how his knock out gas did not work. The stuff was designed to knock out large animals, Gaara should have been out for at least three days. He winced as he examined Lee, there were multiple fractures in his leg and arm. He stood back and let them take Lee away, feeling slightly helpless. He didn't have nearly enough medical experience to heal Lee. He never felt more useless than at that moment.

There was a thirty minute break as the judges fixed the arena from the fight between Lee and Gaara.

Lee had been taken to Konoha's hospital due to his injuries so Naruto and Yakumo could not visit him. The next match appeared on the screen

 **Hinata Hyuga vs Yakumo Kurama**

Naruto winced a bit, a Hyuga is one of Yakumo's worst opponents. With her byakugan Hinata could see through most of Yakumo's genjutsu and was more than likely better at Taijutsu than the genjutsu specialist. However as he looked at Yakumo's face he knew she was determined to win. It wasn't a secret that Kurenai Yuhi had basically raised Hinata. So Yakumo had always disliked Hinata who she perceived as her replacement.

(Yakumo's POV)

Both girls stood across from each other in the arena, Hinata was slightly nervous under the steely gaze of Yakumo. For a usually docile and happy girl, Yakumo looked like she was prepared to kill.

Hayate looked at the two girls and raised his arm "Hajime!"

Yakumo flashed through handseals and Hinata soon saw her family, Kurenai, and her team berating her for being weak and useless. However Hinata activated her Byakugan and saw through the illusion and ran towards Yakumo to engage her in taijutsu. However before she reached Yakumo, the genjutsu user went through four handseals and a wall of earth rose before the black haired girl. Before Hinata could react a fist of stone emerged from the wall and punched her away.

Behind the wall Yakumo was quickly painting a genjutsu painting. She didn't care for quality she was going for speed as she painted a rough scene of the room they were in.

As Hinata stood back up she quickly rushed to the collapsing wall but gasped as everything was reversed. The room was upsidown and as she looked up she could see the roof but felt a severe case of vertigo as she tried to maintain her footing on the reversed floor.

Yakumo chuckled a bit "How do you like my "real" illusions. With this genjutsu everything is reversed, left is right, right is left, and up is down." She took out her tanto and ran at Hinata.

Hinata took out a kunai to block the tanto but felt a cut appear on her opposite shoulder and gasped in pain.

Yakumi grinned evily "Also, every cut appears in the opposite direction."

(In the stands)

Kurenai winced as she saw Hinata attack in the completely wrong direction at Yakumo. She noticed Yakumo painting a picture and figured that Hinata is now in an almost unbreakable genjutsu. She wished she had not given up on Yakumo that day. However she did not know that Minato could seal her Ido demon. And now Hinata is paying the price for her mistakes.

(Back in the arena)

Hinata was breathing heavily as she had many small cuts along her body. Every time she tried to counter Yakumo she was cut. In addition any time the Hyuga heiress tried to attack Yakumo her attacks went right through her

However Hinata heard through the illusion her idol, Shio encouraging her. She had always admired the Uzumaki heiress for her bravery and courage and focused a bit and waited for Yakumo to charge at her. As she got closer she attempted something she had never managed to do before. She quickly spun in a circle while shouting "Kaiten!" surrounded her, sending Yakumo crashing away from her.

Hinata gasped a bit, the Kaiten was a very draining jutsu, she would only be able to use it three more times before she passed out from chakra exhaustion.

Soon the battle became who gets knocked out first as Yakumo tried uncessfully to get past the Kaiten and was flung back before both girls were breathing heavily. Eventually, however, Hinata fell over exhausted but proud in herself for being able to stand up for herself.

Hayate looked at the downed girl and spoke "Winner Yakumo Kurama!"

(Naruto POV)

Naruto cheered for Yakumo and helped heal some of her injuries from the numerous kaitens "You shouldn't be so reckless, you could have injured yourself by charging in like that."

Yakumo grunted but didn't respond as her medic teammate continued to heal her.

He looked at the board and saw the next match

Choji Akimichi vs Kinata Dosu

The match was over fast as Choji used his partial expansion jutsu to try and crush Dosu. However when Choji crashed into a wall Dosu used his melody arm to knock the big boned boy out.

The next match had him interested:

Kurotsuchi vs Omoi

The match was interesting to Naruto. Despite Omoi's excellent kenjutsu skills, he was no match for Kurotsuchi's earth release and lava release. Eventually Omoi surrendered as he was surrounded by puddles of boiling lava.

Gengata Hozuki vs Akatsuchi

The battle displayed a wide range of water and earth jutsu. Gengata seemed to constantly use water bullets to pierce the earth constructs that Akatsuchi created. The battle continued at a stalemate until Gengata summoned a medium sized clam that spread a mist over the battlefield, created mirages that Gengata used in combination with his water jutsu to defeat Akatsuchi.

Mito Gekko vs Chojuro

(Mito's POV)

Chojuro took out his double handled fish shaped sword and Mito drew her katana. Hayate looked between the two genin before calling out "hajime!"

Chojuro sprang into action, unwrapping his sword revealing the Hiramekarei and jumped into the air while yelling "Hammer form!" the sword of the seven mist seemed to splash a bit before transforming into a giant hammer, crashing down on where Mito was seconds ago.

Mito seemed calm and collected as she took a stance with her katana "First dance, sliver moon" she dashed forward and right before she reached Chojuro she spun around in a graceful arc and struck at his side.

Chojuro seeing where the strike was headed yelled out "Shield form!" and the Hiramekarei formed a shield around Chojuro.

Mito's slash didn't even scratch the surface of the bubble and she jumped back as Chojuro transformed his sword into a hammer again.

She sighed a bit before channeled chakra into her sword, increasing the length by double with a blue glow.

(up in the stands)

Naruto raised an eyebrow and looked at his sensei "isn't that the chakra practices that the samurai use?"

Anko while still watching the sword fight "Yup, what a lot of people do not know is that Hayate's father was a samurai. He thought Hayate everything he knew before they immigrated to Konoha. He must have taught the style to his daughter."

(In the arena)

Now holding her blue broadsword in one hand she rushed forward while whispering "Broken crescent" and jumped around Chojuro swinging her broadsword widely making many cuts along the shark tooth boy's body.

Chojuro twisted his sword around while yelling "Longsword form!" and his sword turned into a huge sword when he swung it at Mito.

Mito twisted around and swung her chakra broad sword with great strength while whispering "Great moon slash" and the chakra from her blade sprang forward in a large blast that collided with the longsword form of the Hiramekarei creating a blast of dust in the air. When the smoke cleared Chojuro was on the ground with Mito standing above him, victorious.

Everyone clapped for Mito as the last matchup appeared on the screen.

Tenten vs Umi

Tenten stood across from Umi as Hayate looked between them "Hajime!"

Tenten jumped into the air and started pelting Umi with all kinds of throwing weapons.

However before they reached Umi he pulled out a scroll and went through some hand seals "Wave style: Great Surf!"

Out of the scroll a great burst of water appeared and took the form of a wave and barreled towards the bun headed genin.

Tenten managed to jump over the wave but the ground floor of the arena was completely flooded.

Umi went through some more handseals "Wave style: Turbulence!" soon the once calm flooded waters of the arena suddenly had small waves crashing around the ground floor. Tenten tried to keep her balance with water walking but was unable to and fell in the water. As she fell a net covered her and she was held at Trident point.

Hayate (who had jumped to the balcony to escape getting wet) looked at the situation before calling "Winner, Umi!"

Soon all of the winners except Sasuke were lined up in front of the Hokage and Hayate. The proctor had each person reach for a number before they all had one. Upon opening them they went like this:

Sasuke Uchiha: 3

Menma/Naruto: 1

Shio Uzumaki: 4

Kurotsuchi: 2

Dosu Kinata: 5

Umi: 7

Kankuro: 8

Yakumo Kurama: 9

Gengata Hozuki: 10

Gaara: 6

Shino: BYE

Hayate reviewed the numbers before speaking "Alright so the matches are as follows: Menma vs Kurotsuchi, Sasuke Uchiha vs Shio Uzumaki, Dosu Kinata vs Gaara, Umi vs Kankuro, and Yakumo Kurama against Gengata Kurama. Shino has a BYE to the second round. The matches will not be held for a month to allow time for foreign dignitaries to arrive. So use this month to train and prepare for the third round."

Minato stepped forward "We have provided hotel rooms for each foreign genin team and welcome anyone to use our training fields to prepare for the final exam. Congratulations to all of you for making it to the final round."

 **AN2: BTW yes I know that Yugao Uzumi and Hayate Gekko are in their mid-twenties in Canon. Except this is fanfiction so I can change the story to make them be in their late thirties. Anyway, bit of a short chapter but wanted to save the month inbetween for a single chapter, not attach it to the end of this one.**


	12. Chapter 12: Month to the Finals

**AN: Greetings everyone. I had a bit of trouble deciding what I wanted to do for this chapter. I also wanted to apologize for forgetting Mito Gekko and Nara Shikamaru in the tournament. She will be against Shino in the tournament and Shika will receive the BYE, again I apologize for the mistake. Anyway with that mistake clarified I will answer some of the questions in the reviews.**

 **Grimreaper40045: I'm glad you see what I did there. I tried to make the matches as meaningful as possible.**

 **Natzo: Before criticizing my grammar you should focus on your spelling.**

 **Pterokitty: Scarecrow's fear toxin is a hard poison to use in the story because its kinda OP in a fight. One dose of that and the enemy suddenly sees you as the Kyuubi or worse. I will probably use it in one of his battles but not in a serious fight.**

 **MaximoCore: The age really doesn't matter. If you want them to be in their mid-twenties you can image them like that. I just picture them in their thirties due to having a 13 year old kid already.**

 **Anyway on to the story!**

 **Chapter 12**

 **Month to the Finals**

 **(Konoha Hospital)(1 Day after the preliminaries)(Menma POV)**

Menma and the rest of team 9 were visiting Lee in the hospital. They had just learned the horrible news that Lee may never be a ninja again. Naruto felt so useless, despite all of the training in medical ninjutsu he could not heal Lee. He knew it was pointless to beat himself up over not being able to heal something that doctors with years of experience over him couldn't. But he could not stop thinking about how Lee trained harder than anybody in Konoha to be strong, only to have it all wiped away by the madness of that genin. His fist clenched a bit, Gaara would pay. He walked down the hallways lost in thought 'if Gaara stole Lee's future away from him I will make him regret the day he ever gained that sand ability.'

However he was broken out of his musings when he saw his sister talking to Kakashi. His sister seemed to be pouting a bit as the jounin looked sheepish. As Kakashi left she saw him and a flash of guilt and surprise flashed through her face "Oh! Menma! I didn't see you there." She seemed to be trying to find the right words of what to say "Erm, can we talk privately, how about up on the roof?"

Naruto considered the option and nodded, he had nothing else to do so might as well.

(Hospital Roof)

As they arrived at the roof Shio looked like she was contemplating what to say "I talked with my parents a few days ago…and I realized I was a bit of a brat back at training ground 26. I was under a lot of stress learning I had a big brother..hahaha.." she cleared her throat a bit "I wanted to say I'm sorry for attacking you Naruto." She smiled sheepishly while scratching the back of her head.

Naruto looked at her a bit and sighed "I am not angry that we fought, it was a good chance to test my abilities."

Shio perked up instantly "Yeah! Some of those moves were really cool! The spider was a bit creepy but those chakra scalpels pack a punch!"

He looked at the still babbling blond confusedly 'is she bipolar?'

Suddenly it seemed as if Shio realized something and stopped her babbling "OH! That's right Kaa-san wanted me to invite you for the dinner party this Saturday to celebrate everyone making it to the finals!"

He wanted to refuse. He really did. But he made the mistake of looking into his sister's puppy dog eyed hopeful look and he felt his control waver. 'This is the person I've hated since childhood…?' He thought as he stared at the teary eyed pleading expression of his former sister.

He sighed deeply "Fine I'll come."

Shio cheered loudly before grabbing his hands, he could practically see the sparkles around her "Yes! It will be so much fun! Make sure you come at 6 PM (And wear something nice!) Mom did some investigating and found out you like Sushi so she is making that along with ramen so I will see you then! Bye!" She ran off quickly, jumping from building to building.

Naruto stood there a bit "She investigated me?"

(Konoha Streets)(Friday Afternoon)(Naruto's POV)

Naruto was walking down Konoha's main street after talking to his sister. He was thinking of a training schedule for this month. He knew he needed an ace for the finals. His acid release was not really a secret. He was sure that most of the competition would try and find a counter for it. He did not show any of his hidden weapons during the test but he was sure that they would at least suspect he had something up his sleeve. He thought of his opponent Kurotsuchi and what he knew of her. From a bit of researching he found out she is the Tsuchikage's granddaughter. She also was one of the few people in over a century to combine two elements without a bloodline. The lava release was definitely one of the most powerful offensive styles he had ever seen.

If you don't get directly hit by the lava you still have to be careful where you dodge so you don't step in the stuff. He definitely could not use his acid release against her. His toxic substances in the presence of lava? He would kill all of the spectators. He would have to rely on his tricks and medical skills to win the match. Anko had told him she was going to focus on Yakumo for the finals. He didn't blame her, Gengata was the descendant of the 2nd mizukage and probably knew quite a few of his tricks.

He doubted Arachne could help him, the rest of her techniques would take years for him to learn.

He entered his apartment and went straight to the hidden wall where he hides most of his weapons and searches through them. He equipped his arm crossbow, his back crossbow, a blowpipe, his satchel full of poison supplies, poisoned claws, and quite a few of his poisoned senbon needles. He exited the apartment to find a suitable training ground.

(Training ground 18)

Training ground 18 is known for its obstacle courses. From bear traps to swinging logs, it has it all. Naruto was practicing his evasion as he knew it would be critical to have good reaction time against the lava user. The trick will be taking her out as soon as possible. The longer the match dragged on, the more lava will be on the ground.

He jumped over a log and shot an arrow at the rope holding the other as he flipped over a couple of blunted kunai as he dropped on a wooden ledge and continued to traverse the obstacle course.

It was not until around 5 pm did he leave the training ground and stored his weapons back into his apartment did he remember what Shio told him earlier 'And wear something nice!'

He looked at his closet and saw nothing but training clothes and his casual clothes and scratched the back of his head. As an orphan he never had to go to a nice party before so he did not know what to wear. After making a meal of rice with roe on top and vegetables he decided to go shopping for an outfit tomorrow.

(Next Evening)(Namikaze Estate)(Naruto's POV)

Naruto was staring up at the house that he had called home so many years ago. It felt weird returning for such a mundane reason. He had always imagined returning to this house to burn it down, not to attend a party. He was currently wearing a black suite with a wine red button up shirt underneath with no tie. He sighed and knocked on the door.

Shio opened the door and beamed at him happily and dragged him into the house "You came! I am so excited for the party! We are hosting it in the back garden."

Shio was dressed in a formal Kimonoe but somehow made it look casual as she interacted with some of the guests. He saw Shikamaru with his parents talking to Choji and Ino. Shino was talking to Yakumo along with her parents. When he looked straight again he saw Kushina smiling at him "Menma! I am happy you arrived. I saw your match and was very impressed!"

He noticed she kept her promise to call him Menma. He remembered the conversation he had with her after the preliminaries.

(Flashback)

Naruto was walked away from the hospital and saw Kushina waving at him and he sighed a bit as she walked over. She beamed at him "I am proud of you for winning Naruto. I was hoping I could see where you live, so I could come over some time."

Naruto considered a bit before nodding and they started walking to his apartment. His apartment would be considered Spartan if it wasn't for the plants. The apartment was more a greenhouse than living area. There were plants everywhere, on the window sills, on the table, hanging from the ceiling, and in pots scattered throughout the area. The only furniture in the apartment was a bed, table with two chairs, and a couch in the living room facing a T.V.

They soon began a discussion about light topics, the weather, the chunin exam, and other such topics. Naruto was surprised how easy it was to get used to Kushina's presence. She was a genuinely likable person, she seemed to have this aura that made people around her happy. He felt sad for never being able to experience that when he was younger.

However soon they started speaking of more serious topics as Kushina took a deep breath and asked the biggest question on her mind "Have you…considered retaking the Namikaze-Uzumaki name?"

Naruto looked down at his hands and thought about the offer. It was tempting, very temping. With two clan names he could get many benefits around the village and more recognition in the other nations. He could get better positions in Konoha easier, and even have better prospects of becoming Hokage if he wished too. However he thought of Inari's words 'I gave you the only gift I could in my weakened state, anonymity.' He hated the fox more than he ever hated his parents. But…he was right that his actions probably saved him a life of always looking over his shoulder for his parents enemies.

He looked at Kushina and shook his head "I really want to have a family again…but I have worked so hard as Menma. In addition if I joined the Uzumaki family again I would attract too much attention. A son of Minato Namikaze who looks nothing like either of you suddenly being revealed? I just don't want to deal with that."

Kushina looked sad but seemed to understand. Naruto continued "If you can…can you keep referring to me as Menma in public? I have grown attached to the name…"

Kushina nodded "I will." She stood up to leave and hugged Naruto "Even if you aren't a part of our family anymore you will always be my son, and I will love you no matter how much you change."

Naruto felt his eyes moisten a bit and hugged her back, smiling a full smile."

(End Flashback)

Everyone seemed to have a good time at the party. There were platters of Sushi and large bowls of ramen for the guests as well as drinks. Kiba had to be restrained from drinking alcohol by Shino and everyone gapped at Hinata because of the amount of ramen she could eat. Naruto had fun talking to Mito and Shio.

Unkown to everyone at the party however, two figures were discussing plans on the top of a shadowy rooftop. In another dimension Hayate would have died, but he was allowed the day off to celebrate his daughter's victory in the preliminaries.

(3 days later)

Naruto was visiting the local hot springs. He had been training on evasion and water ninjutsu and thought he deserved a relaxing soak in the hot springs. However as he was relaxing he heard an annoying giggling sound coming from the fence. He looked over and saw a large white haired man that he recognized from the photo at the barber shop, Jiraya of the Sannin. He had heard rumors of his perversity but did not know it was this bad. He sighed a bit before an evil idea came to him. Going through some handseals he used a trick he had learned from manipulating the hidden mist jutsu. Using the steam in the air he manipulated them until the words "There is a pervert peeping on you" Appeared over the fence, behind the pervert.

(Other side of the fence)

Anko was talking with Kurenai before she spotted the mist missage. She smirked a bit before looking at her fellow kunoichi and they all nodded. Soon all of the civillians in the bath began to splash each other happily as they snuck around to the men's side of the bath. Soon screams of agony and pain were heard throughout the street as towel clad kunoichi beat the sannin within an inch of his life. Naruto watched the scene amused, hidden behind a small application of the hidden mist as he watched such a famous person be beaten by towel clad ladies. As the Kunoichi left he got dressed and approached the man snickering a bit "I hope you learned your lesson from this but knowing your reputation, you probably havn't.

The downed man seemed to miraculously heal and in a poof of smoke summoned a large frog and Kabuki music seemed to play as he hopped on one leg "I am the man known throughout the world. The man feared by men and loved by women. I am the gama sage…JIRAIYA!"

All he could do is deadpan at the ridiculous man before turning around to leave. Jiraiya face planted behind him and shouted "Don't just leave!"

Naruto turned around annoyed "What do you want perverted old man?"

Three arrows seemed to pierce Jiraiya each with the words perverted old man on them. Jiraiya sighed heavily as he looked at the genin and remembered his conversation yesterday with Minato.

(Flashback)(Jiraiya's POV)

"YOU HAVE A SON?!" shouted Jiraiya as he looked at his student in shock.

Minato grimaced a bit while rubbing his forehead "Yes, it seemed that someone put a genjutsu on Kushina and I that would force us to gradually abandon him."

Jiraiya still seemed to be in shock and said "Can I meet him? If he really is your son he would be my godson!"

Minato nodded "He goes by the name of Menma. He registered himself as an orphan and graduated as rookie of the year last year."

Jiraiya looked thoughtful "I remember that, I got a notice saying for the first time since my student an orphan gained the title of rookie of the year. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree eh Minato?"

Minato smiled sadly "I just wished I could have helped him get there. Can you look after him during this month? Perhaps teach him some of your skills?

Jiraiya brightened "Sure ill teach the gaki some tricks, perhaps he can sign the toad contract.

Minato winced "He can't sign the toad contract, he signed the spider contract."

Jiraiya looked downtrodden "That's too bad, not to mention there is no chance of him signing both due to the clan he signed."

Minato looked confused "Why is that?"

Jiraiya looked out of the window solemnly "The spiders and the toads have been rivals for centuries. They are natural enemies in the wild and that reflects on their clans. Toads are known for eating spiders you know."

Minato winced a bit but nodded in understanding "Please just look out for him, there are rumors of sand's discontent with us and I want to make sure this exam goes smoothly with all of the other kage's arriving."

(End Flashback)(Naruto POV)

Jiraiya leaned in a bit and whispered quietly "Your father wanted me to check up on your training, see if you need help with anything. He would have helped you himself but he is very busy with the chunin exam preparations."

Naruto nodded in understanding "I have been fine training on my own but can I ask you a few questions about hypothetical situations?"

Jiraiya nodded and they began discussing strategies to defeat Kurotsuchi in the finals.

After an hour of discussing the problem Jiraiya stood up "Why don't we spar kid so I can see how good you are."

Naruto nodded and they headed to training ground 9.

(Training ground 9)

Naruto and Jiraiya clashed for over thirty minutes before Naruto coated his hand in spikes of poison and quickly tried to punch Jiraiya while calling out "Acid spiked punch!"

Jiraiya quickly spoke out "Hari Jizo!" and his hair grew into a shield around him and deflected the attack.

Naruto called an end to the training spar as he saw that move "Jiraiya-san, what was that move?"

Jiraiya looked a bit confused, of all the moves he had shown his personal hair jutsu was the one he focused on? "That was my personal brand of jutsu. I use my hair to attack and defend, no one ever expects the hair to be used as a weapon."

Naruto pondered the uses of such a move. It could remove his weakness of his webs being intangible to the touch. If he could weave his hair into a web around the battlefield and direct it with chakra, he could mimic the spider's best moves "Can you teach me how to do that?"

Jiraiya looked a bit more confused "Are you sure? By the time you get it down it will probably be time for the finals."

Naruto nodded, a determined glint in his eyes "Yes I am sure Jiraiya-sensei!"

Jiraiya laughed "Sensei eh? I like the sound of that."

(Naruto's Apartment)(day of the finals)(Naruto POV)

Naruto equipped his wrist crossbow and smirked a bit as his hair unwove from its web position around his apartment, it was time to show the world what he can do.

 **AN2: And that's chapter 12, I am sorry for the slight delay on this one, had a bunch of schoolwork yesterday and couldn't finish it. Naruto has found a solution to his intangible web problem. His hair jutsu will be slightly similar to Sunny's style of fighting, but a bit nerfed. He will use it to trap opponents, create cocoons, and even heal people. He does not use Sunny's hairstyle though, it is the same. Anyway if anyone has any suggestions or comments please review and I will answer them as best I can. Thank you ^_^.**


	13. Chapter 13: The Finals Part 1

**AN: Alright time for the 13** **th** **chapter. This will be part 1 of the finals. I saw a few people ask which Sunny I was talking about in my AN last chapter, he is the Sunny from Toriko. I also saw some people request that Naruto use wires. At the start of the series I seriously considered this option. However, I think the hair will be a better solution. He can grow it, increase the strength with chakra, and detatch them to create his webs. Wires would be a one-time thing. Anyway I'll respond to some of the comments.**

 **Guest: Yes Shika won, I made a mistake and forgot Mito and Shikamaru when announcing the finals, he gets a BYE to the next round, so he doesn't fight until then.**

 **Roboguy45: I find Walter to be a bit op for this series. The puppet techniques and wire techniques are definitely possible, as proven by Sasori and Chiyo. But I think his techniques would detract from my poison and spider abilities.**

 **Lightning-Squall: I dislike abandonment stories where there are at least 6 chapters of nothing but Naruto being an asshole to his parents while his parents act like immature brats trying to bribe him to accept them and to accept his destiny. Naruto is being mature about the situation, he realizes they are not at fault, but is still uncomfortable to be in their presence for long periods of time.**

 **Anyway on to the story!**

 **Chapter 13:**

 **The Finals Part 1**

(Konoha Stadium)(Day of the finals)

The Konoha stadium was packed to its limit. Packed with people from Daimyos to peasants, everyone had come to watch the finals of the chunin exam. The event was highly publicized because of the fact that all five great nations had genin competing in the Tournament. In the highest booth the Five Kage's sat side by side for the first time since the chunin exam system began.

On the far left was the Raikage. A of the Raiton no Yoroi. He was a very large man, arms muscled like a body builder or wrestler. He was famous in all five countries for his mastery of lightning ninjutsu and taijutsu.

On his right sat the Tsuchikage. Onoki the Great Fence Sitter. Compared to his counterparts he was a very small man. He had earned his reputation as being the oldest lasting kage, and for his mastery of earth ninjutsu and dust release ninjutsu.

In the center sat the Hokage. Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash. He had earned his reputation by being the fastest man alive, and his actions in the third shinobi war. He is praised as the strongest shinobi alive for being able to go against the Kyuubi alone and live to tell the tale.

On the hokage's right was the Mizukage. Mei Terume of the Poison Mist. As the first female Mizukage she made her name in the Kiri Civil war by defeating the third Mizukage in single combat.

The last kage is the Kazekage. Rasa no Sabaku of the Gold Dust. Famous for his role in the third shinobi war. He also became Kazekage after defeating the Ichibi in single combat and allowed Chiyo to seal the bijuu inside a tea kettle.

Each Kage was extremely famous and well respected individual. Each had gathered in the stadium to witness the finals of the Chunin exams.

(In the stadium)

All of the genin were lined up in front of the new proctor. The man had a lazy appearance with a bandana around his head and chewing on a senbon. The proctor looked at the gathered genin and spoke "Welcome to the final rounds of the Chunin exams. I am your proctor for this event, Genma Shiranui." He pulled out a tournament sheet and showed it to the genin "The matches are as follows:

Match 1: Kurotsuchi vs Menma

Match 2: Shio Uzumaki vs Sasuke Uchiha

Match 3: Dosu Kinata vs Gaara

Match 4: Umi vs Kankuro

Match 5: Gengata Hozuki vs Yakumo Kurama

Match 6: Shino Aburame vs Mito Gekko

Shikamaru: BYE

The senbon chewing jonin put the tournament sheet away and turned to the genin "The first match of the day will be Kurotsuchi of Iwa against Menma of Konoha. Everyone else please vacate to the viewing balcony."

 **Kurotsuchi vs Menma**

Genma looked between the two genin and raised his arm "Hajime!"

Right when he finished those words Kurotsuchi flew through some handseals before shouting out "Lava bombs!"

Menma jumped away and started weaving between the balls of lava as they landed on the ground, forming puddles of the burning liquid.

(In the Kage box)

Mei looked interested in the lava jutsu and turned to Onoki "Oh? Lava jutsu from a genin? Impressive."

Onoki looked at Kurotsuchi with pride "Yes she is a genius with mixing elements together. Although that kid Menma is definitely a genius himself. I remember that he, along with his team defeated Rogan the butcher a year ago."

Minato smiled proudly "Yes Menma definitely is one of our strongest genin this year, I wonder how he plans to counter the lava ninjutsu."

(Back in the arena)

The battle was going as Naruto had imagined it, constantly dodging Lava while simultaneously watching out to not jump in the lava puddles. However what the stand did not know is that he had almost completed his trap. He looked around the arena and saw spiders weaving their webs across the arena.

Kurotsuchi was annoyed, her opponent had been constantly dodging her attacks and did not seem concerned with counter attacking. Did he think she would run out of chakra? Hah! She was the granddaughter of the Tsuchikage she had been increasing her chakra reserves since birth.

Soon the field was almost full of lava beside the circle that Kurotsuchi occupied. She smirked "End of the line" She went through some handseals for her best jutsu "Lava Dragon jutsu!" Soon a massive Chinese dragon rose from the lava and streaked towards Menma, blasting his position with boiling lava.

Many people in the stands gasped as they thought Kurotsuchi had killed Menma. But a voice called from above the field "Oi Oi Oi, are you trying to kill me?" Everyone looked up to see Menma standing on air?

Only a few people could see the interlocking web that stretched across the stadium that Menma was balancing on. He smirked at his opponent "Thank you for reducing the area you can dodge Kuro-chan."

Kurotsuchi growled at the nickname while Menma took out the crossbow from his back "But its time to play shoot the Iwa genin."

With that the role of the battle was reversed. Naruto repeatedly peppered the iwa genin with arrows as he jumped from wire to wire, dodging any of the attacks from Kurotsuchi. Due to the pools of lava around her, she did not have much room to dodge the arrows.

(In the Kage stands)

A rubbed his chin "An interesting tactic. He played Kurotsuchi for a fool, allowing her to fill most of the arena with lava then taking to the air on his web."

Rasa agreed with A "I wonder how he managed to set the wiring up in the middle of that storm of Lava. Either the one who was dodging was a clone or he had helpers somewhere in the arena."

Minato smirked, he may not approve of the spider clan but they were definitely proving their worth to his son.

(Arena)

Kurotsuchi scowled as she continued to try and dodge the arrows fired from Menma. She felt like a fool, she had never considered that he may have been counting on her to fill the arena with lava. Luckily she had a backup plan, going through handseals she called out "Quicklime Congealing technique" and spat globs of cement around herself, covering the lava pools with quickly drying cement. She now could better evade the arrows while countering with her own abilities.

She smirked up at Menma "Lets see you stay on you web with this!" She went through four handseals "Fire release: Great fireball!" and blasted a ball of fire out of her mouth at the web, lighting it on fire.

Menma frowned at his burning web, it seemed his first plane failed. He jumped down and activated his chakra scalpels. As he landed he sprinted towards the iwa genin and engaged in a fierce taijutsu contest.

Kurotsuchi broke away first and went through four hand seals "Earth release: Earthen body armor!" her skin darkened until it looked as if she was made of dirt. This jutsu was the earth style counterpart to the lightning armor. Much easier to use and gave the user great defense.

Menma frowned, that jutsu would prevent much of the damage from his chakra scalpels. He pumped more chakra into his scalpels and they lengthened a bit and turned dark green. He darted forward towards Kurotsuchi as she ran forward as well and they clashed, fists of stone vs chakra scalpels.

Menma swung his arm down, hitting the shoulder of Kurotsuchi, but only making a small scratch. The Iwa genin smirked at him before sucker punching him into the wall of the arena.

Menma felt the impact and gasped a bit, the spiderweb cracks against the wall was proof of how hard he was hit. He fell to the ground in apparent pain.

Kurotsuchi smiked as she jumped to jump kick him.

However right before she hit, Menma shifted and lifted his leg up and pressed against the food that would have kicked him.

Kurotsuchi's eyes widen as she felt the prick of a needle in her foot. Her leg suddenly felt like jelly as she fell to one knee in shock.

Menma smirked that his plan succeeded. On the bottom of his foot a small needle was shown, glowing with enough chakra to pierce the earth armor. He had paralyzed her with a potent enough venom to keep her down for a while. He smirked down at her and pressed a chakra scalpel to her throat "Surrender."

Kurotsuchi scowled but declared "I forfeit."

The arena cheered for both genin as Genma declared "Winner: Menma!"

(In the Kage box)

Onoki sighed as he watched his granddaughter be defeated "She underestimated him in that last second. Still, to manipulate the fight to that moment, he definitely shows enough skill to be a chunin."

Minato nodded "I agree, however don't discount your genin out. She demonstrated enough talent to be given the title Chunin herself."

Mei nodded "I agree, it was a good battle, both sides made smart decisions and had back up plans when their initial plans did not succeed, I vote both for chunin."

Rasa nodded in agreement, remaining silent for now.

A grunted "Both definitely showed skill in nin and taijutsu as well as planning. They earned my vote to be chunin. However I am interested to see how Menma does in the next round, he used up a lot of chakra in this fight."

All the Kage's nodded in agreement, the real skill will be shown when they are tired from their previous matches.

(Arena)

After a short break to fix the field, Genma stepped back in to announce the next match "The next match will be Sasuke Uchiha vs Shio Uzumaki!"

 **Sasuke Uchiha vs Shio Uzumaki**

(in the stands)

Kakashi was sitting next to Kushina and the rest of the jonin. Asuma looked over "I'm surprised you're not late, losing your touch Kakashi?"

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head awkwardly "No, Kushina-san held my books hostage and threatened to burn them if we were late."

All of the jonin sweatdrop while Kushina cheers for Shio "YEAH! Beat that Uchiha's ass!"

(Arena)

Shio stood across from Sasuke as Genma raises his hand "Hajime!"

Shio quickly unsheaths her sword and slashes a wind wave at Sasuke.

Sasuke takes out a tanto and rembers what Kakashi said during their training.

(Flashback)

Sasuke stood before Kakashi on a Cliffside. The jonin eye smiled at Sasuke while explaining what they are going to be training in "Sasuke I know you have a fire and lightning affinity. We are going to train in your fire affinity for this month. Shio is almost a master of wind release in combination with her sword. Fire trumps wind so we need to teach you how to channel elemental chakra into a weapon to counter Shio."

The cyclops handed him a tanto "I once worked alongside Shisui Uchiha and know some of his tricks with fire release. We will work on some of his moves."

Sasuke vaguely remembered Itachi's friend before the massacre. He had always thought he was an idiot. He looked at Kakashi doubtfully "Shisui? I saw him a few times and he acted like Shio when she eats sugar, is he that strong?"

Kakashi chuckled condescendingly and took out a bingo book from a few years ago and flipped to Shisui "Shisui Uchiha of the body flicker. High A-rank. Bio: Prodigy of the Uchiha clan alongside Itachi Uchiha. Is widely known to be one of the best at genjutsu, fire manipulation, and the body flicker."

Sasuke's eye's widen and he looked at the tanto in his hands 'Shisui was that strong? Maybe I can use your skills to defeat your rival in life.'

Kakashi seemed to understand what he is thinking "Yes, it is well known that Shisui was stronger than Itachi, if you master all of his moves you will be stronger than your brother."

Sasuke gained a spark in his eyes as he turned to his sensei "Please teach me Shisui's abilities Kakashi."

(End flashback)

Fire burst from Sasuke's tanto and he disappeared in a body flicker, dodging the wind slash and shouted "Fire Halo!" The uchiha repeatedly slashed his tanto as he shushined around the field, waves of fire flying towards Shio.

(Kage Stands)

Mei Terume's eye's widen at the fire halo move, Shisui was infamous in Kiri after he defeated one of her best fighters, Aoi. Aoi had described the fight and spoke largely of Shisui's combination of the shunshin and fire ninjutsu through a tanto. It seemed as if Sasuke is following his footsteps. She glanced at her fellow Kages and commented "Impressive, fire manipulation at this level from a genin. Your daughter Hokage-san is also impressive, her wind manipulation is at a level not seen outside of Suna."

Rasa nodded "Yes, her moves seems to be a bit similar to our wind sword technique, but channeled through a real sword and pushed through a slash. Did you train her how to use these moves Hokage-san?"

Minato shook his head "No, I have a lightning affinity. Kushina taught her wind manipulation but she came up with most of her sword techniques on her own. Neither Kushina nor I use much ninjutsu so she got creative. When she said she would create her own ninjutsu series we were skeptical but she managed to make something powerful. She calls it the majestic slash series."

Rasa nodded "Fascinating, I wonder if we can do similar jutsu with our fans. It will be interesting to test out when we return to Suna."

(Back in the Arena)

Shio's eyes widened at the fire before she sent a blast of air at her feet to jump to a great height to avoid the burning cuts. She spun in mid-air and sent another wind cut at Sasuke before crouching on the ground, pumping chakra into her legs as she prepared one of her best moves.

Sasuke easily dodged the slash but widened his eyes when he saw her crouched. He remembered that move from the wave mission.

(Flashback)

They were surrounded by mirrors on top of a bridge but suddenly, all the mirrors in front of Shio were cut apart as she blasted through them.

(End flashback)

Sasuke tsked and channeled more fire chakra into his tanto. He also started to put a little lightning chakra into his tanto to increase the potency of his flames and dashed forward to counter Shio's slash.

Shio prepared enough chakra in her legs and jumped forward, releasing all of the chakra in her legs as she surged forward, using her wind chakra to remove the air pressure against her as she thought in her head 'Majestic slash of the wind god!'

Sasuke prepared enough fire chakra into his tanto and jumped forward in a downward swing at the cut while also thinking 'Flame Fall!'

The resulting explosion nearly encompassed half the arena.

(Kage Stands)

Minato covered his eyes away from the dust of the explosion and was worried about Shio and Sasuke, that explosion was huge.

A whistled in appreciation for the giant explosion "That was one large attack. I assume they didn't intend to do that."

Onoki nodded thoughtfully "I assume the Uchiha used lightning chakra to enhance his fire chakra enhanced tanto. When in contact with Shio's wind ninjutsu, the flame reacted to the lightning and then enhanced with the wind, causing the massive explosion. A similar process is done with Bakuton ninjutsu."

(In the arena)

As the smoke cleared everyone looked to at the walls of the arena as Sasuke and Shio were standing on opposite sides, safely away from the explosion. Although they were definitely worse for wear. Shio's nodochi had shattered and she had removed the hoodie she was wearing to the event, revealing a black skin tight black top with mesh armor underneath it.

Sasuke's tanto was fine but his black turtleneck clothing was burned and tattered in different areas.

Shio jumped down and pointed at Sasuke angrily "What the hell! You do some awesome move then jump away at the last second! What kind of fighter are you? Dattebayo!"

Sasuke jumped down too and scowled at the blond Uzumaki "You jumped away too idiot."

They glowered at each other before Shio looked at the huge crater their attack had caused "Well it seemed it was a good idea to dodge, that attack went way out of control."

Sasuke glanced at the crater too, it was about 10 feet deep and covered about a third of the arena.

Sasuke nodded but dodged a punch from Shio and the fight was back on.

Despite the loss of her sword, Shio continued to use wind enhanced taijutsu to counter Sasuke's tanto attacks and supplementary taijutsu.

They clashed, wind against fire for a while before Shio jumped back and a blue ball swirled around her hand. She looked at Sasuke yelling "I will win this!"

Sasuke scowled and struck his Tanto forward swirling fire chakra around the tip making a drill of fire. He jumped forward with the drill shouting "Fire spear!"

Shio jumped forward while also calling out "Rasengan!"

The two ninjutsu clashed until another large explosion occurred. Everyone was on the edge of their seats to see the end of the battle.

As the smoke cleared it was revealed that a tattered Shio was standing over an unconscious Sasuke. The crowd cheered for the Uzumaki as she ran around yelling in victory.

Genma smirked at the jumping genin while thinking 'Even after all of that she has the stamina to jump around, what a stamina freak.'

He raised his hand at Shio while shouting out "Winner of the second match: Shio Uzumaki!"

The crowd roared in approval.

Shio looked up at the fighter's balcony where she saw her estranged brother looking at her and she smirked at him with her eyes sending him a message 'I want to fight you next.'

(Fighter's Balcony)

Naruto looked down at his celebrating sister, not sure what to feel. He felt proud that she won but it was strange feeling these emotions for someone he has hated his entire life. He looked down at her again and saw him staring at him, sending him a message that he understood 'I want to fight you next.' He smirked a bit, he could not wait for that confrontation.

(In the Kage box)

Onoki spoke first "Well, their definitely skilled enough for chunin, however neither of them planned that far ahead. It was all reactionary. Plus if they made that kind of mistake with the explosion in a real situation they could get their entire team killed."

Minato nodded, he was proud of the gennin but neither showed the necessary mental prowess of a chunin. He looked to his fellow Kages and spoke "So Sasuke will not be promoted, but Shio still has a chance to show that she is eligible for chunin."

Everyone nodded at the assessment.

 **Dosu Kinata vs Gaara**

Dosu and Gaara were standing across from each other. Genma looked between the two genin and spoke "The third math between Dosu Kinata and Gaara…Hajime!"

Dosu chuckled as he prepared his melody arm "I wonder which one is faster, my sound or your sand."

Gaara stared at Dosu apathetically before speaking monotone "Your blood will be unsatisfactory to mother."

Dosu shivered a bit but rushed forward, preparing to end this in one shot before the sun darkened overhead. He looked up and his lone eye widened before he was completely engulfed in sand.

Gaara raised his hand and spoke in a monotone drawl "Worthless" and clenched it.

It was silent in the arena as blood seemed to drip down from the floating pile of sand.

(In the Kage box)

All of the Kage were silent as they viewed the scene. Mei cleared her throat a bit before speaking "Your genin seems to be unstable Kazekage-san.

Rasa nodded solemnly "I told him not to kill any of the competition, I will have to discipline him after this."

A shook his head in apparent disgust "He is definitely skilled, but he definitely does not have the mentality to lead. If he can kill a fellow genin in cold blood like that, he has no place leading a team of chunin."

Minato nodded, agreeing with A's assessment.

(In the arena)

Gaara walked slowly back up to the fighter's balcony, not reacting to the lack of any applause or recognition to his victory. All of the genin in the box were staring at the red haired shinobi in anger.

However Kankuro was sweating internally 'If I win my fight I have to fight Gaara…Baki-sensei told us we can't forfeit to prepare for the invasion but if I win this match I will be killed!'

Umi stood there in contemplation as he reviewed the previous match. If he won he would be facing the red haired menace. He frowned as he remembered the beaches of his childhood and smirked a bit, he had a plan against Gaara. He glanced at the puppet user, but he had to win this fight first.

 **Umi vs Kankuro**

Umi and Kankuro stood across from each other as Genma raised his arm "Hajime!"

Umi jumped back a bit and rushed through handseals before taking out a sealing scroll and shouted "Great flood!"

A rush of water exited the scroll into the arena. He threw the scroll to a safe distance and kept dodging Kankuro as he kept unrolling water scrolls to flood the arena. He stopped after his fifth scroll and the water was now knee high. He jumped on top of the water and glanced at his side bag 'I have ten more scrolls left filled with water. I hope that's enough for the next match.' He looked at his opponent and saw him unravel his puppet.

Kankuro sneered at his opponent "It doesn't matter how much water you use, you won't be able to dodge this." He flexed his fingers a bit and Karasu opened its mouth "Puppet secret art: Poisoned bomb!" three purple orbs were shot from Karasu's mouth and exploded where Umi was, filling the area with poisoned smoke.

However Umi was already under the water, using an old diving ninjutsu to draw the air from the water around him into his lungs to breathe underwater. Normally he wouldn't be able to go underwater in knee deep water but the crater from the last match was more than ten feet deep, perfect for going underwater. He went through some handseals and thought 'Wave style: Great Tsunami!'

Above the water a large wave suddenly formed and barreled towards Kankuro. Alarmed he dived under the water along with his puppet to avoid the giant wave. However before he could surface the water around him became choppy and violent and started to rise further.

In the crater Umi had another open scroll and kept his hands in a hand seal to keep the water violent.

(In the Kage stands)

Mei watched in pride as Umi used one of his wave style combinations to trap the Suna genin.

Minato rubbed his chin as he considered the move "It is a deadly combination to anyone bellow high chunin. Water walking on rough water like that is impossible unless you have jonin chakra control. Even if Kankuro has good chakra control as a puppeteer, he will still have to focus on water walking, leaving him open to Umi."

Mei nodded "Yes it is for techniques like this is the reason that some in Kiri call him the Tidecaller."

Rasa nodded as he observed his genin be hammered by different waves "A fitting title."

(In the arena)

Umi decided to end this and took out his trident, using a small water manipulation to propel him through the water he calmed the waves and put the trident to Kankuro's throat.

Kankuro sighed, slightly happy he lost since he didn't have to fight Gaara "I forfeit."

Umi nodded and took out some empty storage scroll and absorbed the water into four different scrolls.

(In the Kage stands)

A nodded in approval "A quick but insightful battle. Umi outmatched Kankuro since the start. I doubt many of the genin here could counter that wave trick effectively. I vote to promote him to chunin."

The other kage's nodded in agreement.

(In the arena)

 **Yakumo Kurama vs Gengata Hozuki**

Yakumo stood across from Gengata as Genma raised his arm once again "Hajime!"

Gengata smirked arrogantly "You should surrender now, you stand no chance against me."

Yakumo scowled and went through some handseals "Well try this on for size then, Great forest of death!" The scene shifted in an area of black sakura blossoms as Gengata found himself in the center of a forest of black sakura trees. He looked around a bit confused by the genjutsu until he saw something at the corner of his eye. He spun around but saw nothing. He started to sweat in fear before he felt a shadow loom across him. He turned around sharply and saw a different Yakumo. This one seemed to be a demonic version of the girl as she wielded a huge scythe made out of human bones. As the scythe came down he shook off his fear and broke out of the genjutsu just in time to dodge a slash by a tanto.

He frowned a bit as he observed his opponent "Using a genjutsu to increase the user's fear to make them forget their in an illusion while you sneak up on them with a tanto, man I underestimated you."

Yakumo smirked as she gripped the tanto tighter "Hmph, well I am soon to be the best genjutsu user of Konoha, I can't lose in illusions to you."

Gengata frowned before He gasped as he felt a cut on his shoulder. He looked behind him and saw nothing. He widened his eyes before he clasped his hands together and said "Kai!" The arena soon broke and reappeared to another arena where Yakumo was holding a bloody tanto smirking at him. He scowled, he had drastically underestimated this girl. She used a two layer genjutsu, the first one would make him too scared to realize he was in a genjutsu, if he broke out of it he would enter the next one, which would show a normal arena. Due to his arrogance he did not realize he was still in a genjutsu.

(In the Kage box)

Onoki nodded in understanding "Impressive genjutsu. Using a double layered genjutsu is extremely difficult. You have a talented brat there Hokage-san."

Minato nodded I pride as he watched his son's teammate outsmart the cocky kiri genin.

Mei covered her eyes and sighed, she had repeatedly told him to not let his arrogance blind him. But it seemed like it had happened anyway.

(Arena)

Gengata ignored the pain in his shoulder and went through some handseals, wipping a bit of blood off his shoulder as he did so and called out "Summoning no jutsu!"

A giant clam emerged from the large poof of smoke. The clam opened its shell and released a green tinted mist throughout the arena.

Yakumo looked around carefully, fully prepared for anything. What she was not prepared for was a blast of lava to emerge out of the mist. She dodge quickly and looked behind her, the lava had disappeared into the mist. Was this a genjutsu?

She dodged again as Sasuke with his flaming drill sped past her. She felt the heat from his jutsu and wondered how this was possible.

She heard Gengata's laugh through the mist as he explained his jutsu "This is my own special technique. I use the mist around you to create a mirage of past events that happened in this arena. The mist will automatically respond to the mirage and make the damage real."

She frowned as she heard the monologue of her opponent. That was a very dangerous genjutsu, on the level of her paintings.

She continued to dodge different attacks from the past matches. She dodged swarms of arrows from Menma, wind slashes from Shio, and waves from Umi. She was panting a bit at the excursion against the Kiri genin. She glanced at the watch on her wrist and smirked a bit, about five more minutes, if she survived for that long she would win.

And so the game of cat and mouse continued, Shio working herself to exhaustion to dodge many of the best techniques of her contemporaries. She also got hit by a few water bullets from Gengata.

Soon the clock ticked for five minutes and she smirked as the mist started to clear.

The mist fully cleared to reveal Gengata, on the ground paralyzed. If one observed her tanto they would see a gleam of purple substance dripping off of it.

(In the Kage box)

Mei sighed, her genin did well but lost in the end to his own arrogance.

Rasa frowned "He should have paid more attention to his wound, with a poison specialist as a teammate he should have known she would be well versed in different poisons."

Minato nodded in agreement "I agree, he was too arrogant to make a good chunin, I do not doubt his skill, but perhaps he should wait till next time to be promoted."

A agreed but commented on the Konoha genin "I do not believe we saw enough from Yakumo to tell if she is chunin worthy. She had good strategy with the double layed genjutsu and poisoned tanto, but she did not show much else in her match."

All of the kages nodded and prepared to watch the last match of the first round.

(Arena)

 **Shino Aburame vs Mito Gekko**

Shino and Mito stood across from each other as Genma glanced between them before raising his arm for the last match of the first round "Hajime!"

Shino lifted his arms and a swarm of bugs started to fly around him in a black mass.

Mito drew her katana and prepared to counter Shino's first strike.

Shino dashed forward with a punch towards the purple haired swordswomen. Mito dodged the punch and countered with a slash at Shino. The blade passed through Shino and the Aburame dissolved into insects which swarmed the girl.

Mito scowled and jumped back from the swarm while sending a chakra slash at them to cover her escape. She continued to dodge pockets of the swarm until she was surrounded on all sides. She looked across the field and saw Shino directing the swarm. Soon all of the bugs swarmed her. However, as they started to absorb her chakra she poofed into smoke revealing herself to be a kage-bushin.

Before Shino could react a Katana was pointed at his throat and he nodded silently and announced "Proctor I forfeit."

(In the Kage stands)

A nodded "Smart, she knew she could not avoid the bugs forever so she hid underground as a Kage bushin looked for the real Shino. Once it dispersed the information would return to Mito so she could attack the Aburame without fear of the insects. She has my vote for Chunin."

Mei nodded, happy that so many females were proving their worth in this competition.

(Arena)

Genma stepped forward and and announced to the arena "That concludes the first round of the Chunin Exam Finals. We will have an hour long break to fix the arena and give the Genin time to heal. Please return soon for the 2nd Round of the exams."

 **AN2: And that's that for the 13** **th** **chapter. I hope everyone enjoyed the fights I wrote. I based Sasuke on Shisui because I think it makes the most sense. Shisui was stronger than Itachi so Sasuke should try and mimic him to surpass Itachi. I did not have Kakashi teach Sasuke the chidori because it was unnecessary against Shio. Also I would like to point out that I do not own any of the references in this story. I used the mist ninjutsu from Yureka as well as based Umi's ability and title off of Nami the tidecaller from LoL.**


	14. Chapter 14: Finals Part 2

**AN: Greetings everyone! I am happy people are saying that the last matches were better than the preliminaries. I do admit I got pretty lazy on them. I would also like to address a major mistake in this story. I am not sure why no one noticed (including myself) but I forgot Samui in the first round. I will include her fight with Shikamaru at the start of this chapter, instead of editing the previous one. I apologize for my leaky memory and hope I do the fight justice. Anyway time to respond to some of the questions and comments in the reviews:**

 **Ginseng Overdose: I do know that some people will find incest hard to swallow, I am the same. However I do not consider this incest. Despite having the same mother they barely knew each other growing up. In addition, with the new DNA inserted into Menma, he is not truly Shio's brother. There will be no lemons, limes, or any fruity stuff in this story. The romance will not spark until the same time as Canon. The only reason I made the pole is to decide who to hint that the romance will spark towards. I am seriously against incest in real life, it's wrong and often disgusting, but this is a very rare circumstance in the story.**

 **Guest: Kyuubi (or Inari) dislikes Kushina because of how she bound him in the seal with her chakra chains. I doubt Naruto would appreciate it if he mentioned that he had some personal motives against Kushina in casting the genjutsu.**

 **Grocamol: This is my first real story (The First illusionist was kinda a test run) I do not have any experience in writing. I am trying my best to make the battles interesting and just learning as I go.**

 **Anyway, on to chapter 14!**

 **Chapter 14:**

 **Finals Part 2**

(Konoha Areana)(Day of the Finals)

 **Samui vs Shikamaru**

Samui began to walk down to the arena but Shikamaru sighed heavily "What a drag, why do I always have to fight females? Maybe I should just forfeit."

Shio glared at Shikamaru "You can't just forfeit Shikamaru! Prove to Kumo that Konoha is great! Beside there is one good reason you must compete."

Shikamaru turned to her, back facing the balcony and raised a lazy eyebrow "Why is that?"

Shio grinned evily "Because." She lifted her foot up "I" Her eyes glinted "SAY SO!" and Sparta kicked him down to the arena."

(Arena)

Shikamaru stayed there for a while just staring at the clouds, ignoring the crowds booing 'troublesome girl'

Genma sweatdropped at Shikamaru while Samui grew a tick mark. The senbon chowing jonin sighed "Hajime!"

Samui dashed forward and drew her sword, intending to cut the lazy coward in two. However when she slashed down he disappeared and landed on two kunai stuck to the wall above where the slash cut down "Well, I really don't want to do this but oh well, I don't want to fight a girl but I can't lose to one either."

Samui growled angrily "Then just die you sexist pig!" she slashed the wall where he suddenly disappeared, cutting into it deeply. She turned around to the trees and smirked "You are quite good at running away." Lightning sparked off her sword dangerously "Then run away from this!"

She began to rain lightning bolts from her sword at Shikamaru's cover while he thought of a strategy 'crazy girl, shooting me with lightning.' He glanced around the arena for an advantage and noticed the pit where Shio and Sasuke fought was still there, and Samui was not far from its location.

Samui stared at the grove of trees in the arena annoyed "If you are not going to come out, then I will have to make you!" She was about to dart forward when Shikamaru jumped out and ran towards the pit from two fights ago. She did not know what his plan was but she was going to stop it. She darted forward to intercept him when suddenly she froze. She stood there wide eyed as one of the Kunai that Shikamaru had stuck to the wall poofed back into the lazy Nara with a shadow connecting to Samui. She was completely trapped as they walked towards one another. She was not naïve enough to think he wouldn't be able to do something to her even if they were connected. She closed her eyes as they reached one another and felt her arm being raised "Proctor, I forfeit."

What.

The.

Hell?

Samui opened her eyes to see the lazy boy in front of her rubbing her shoulders looking bored.

He began to slouch away while explaining "it took a lot of chakra to maintain the Kagemane no jutsu from a henge while bating you wish a bushin also using the kageman jutsu to produce a shadow, im tired.

(Kage Stands)

Mei chuckles into her hand "What a unique boy, despite almost winning he decides to forfeit due to being tired from almost doing nothing."

Onoki snorted "And to think I thought the legendary Nara laziness was over exaggerated."

Minato chuckled awkwardly "Well even if he did not win the match, he would have won the war if he had a full team. The minute he caught her with that unconventional tactic his teammates could have ended it. Despite being a bad solo player, he would do well in a team situation."

A nodded "Yes he had good potential to be a leader if he broke out of his lazy habits. Maybe forcing some responsibility on him could make him grow more."

Minato nodded "Yes so Shikamaru will be promoted."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Rasa frowned "However, Samui I do not believe demonstrated enough to be Chunin, she showed skill yes, but was not able to plan accordingly to the Nara's tactics."

Onoki nodded "Yes, let's wait for the next match to see if she is worthy to be a chunin or not.

(After the hour intermission)(Arena)

Genma walked out to the middle of the arena "Welcome back to the final rounds of the chunin exams! Once again I would like to thank all of you for coming to this event. I will now announce the next round of the exams."

Menma vs Shio Uzumaki

Umi vs Gaara

Yakumo Kurama vs Mito Gekko

Shikamaru Nara vs Samui

Genma closed the tournament brackets and spoke to the crowd "Would Shio and Menma please come down to the arena."

Soon Shio and Menma stood across from each other, both thinking about their last fights.

Shio clenched her fist as she stared at her estranged brother 'In the last fight we were completely even. However this is a tournament so I can't use too much chakra.'

Menma started at his sister in contemplation 'I may not hate you anymore, but this is my chance to prove my strength to the world. I will use this fight to find my path again.'

Genma raised his hand and everyone in the arena seemed to hold their breath as the clash between the two strongest genin in Konoha was about to begin "HAJIME!"

Naruto exploded into action, flashing through handseals his hair suddenly spiked in different directions and he shouted "Spider silk encampment!" His hair grew ridiculously fast, fastening into the shape of a spider web around the arena. Soon near invisible strands of hair were all around the arena. If one looked from an aerial view, they would see a very complex spider web pattern around the arena.

Naruto flashed through handseals before his sister could react and shouted again "Dokukiri no jutsu!" soon a purple tinted mist spread inside the arena.

(In the Kage stands)

Mei widened her eyes at the jutsu "How interesting, he seemed to have copied our mist jutsu and added his own poisons to it. It is a weaker version of my own poisoned mist."

Minato nodded "Yes Menma is one of the most premier poison specialists in the village. He has figured out how to turn his chakra into different toxins, creating a new style of ninjutsu."

Everyone looked interested in this information, including a dragon masked anbu directly behind the Hokage.

(Arena)

Shio had already prepared for her brother's poison mist jutsu. She unsealed a gas mask and put it on. She walked to the side a bit, holding her spare nodochi at the ready but felt a cut on her shoulder. She looked closely and noticed that a taught piece of hair had cut her in the shoulder. She felt her eyes widen, if all the strings around her had the power to cut her with just a simple touch, she could slice herself to ribbons just trying to find her opponent. She sighed, she will have to reveal her secret technique to the world. She did not want to show this to her parents yet until she had finished it. But an incomplete version should do.

Soon four glowing blades appeared at her back and started to spin, cutting down the wires nearest to her and separating the mist a bit. She suddenly dodged to the left to avoid an arrow that flew her way. How can he tell where she was? He should be just as blind as her in this mist. She felt one of her blades snap another strand of hair and had to dodge another arrow. Was he reacting to where the strings are cut?

She used her sensing ability to detect chakra running through each of the strings. What a frightening technique. Since he was not a natural sensor like herself, he had channeled chakra strings through her hair, if she tripped one he would know instantly where she was. She decided to test one of her new moves she made over the past month. She pressed her hands in a prayer position and focused on her emotion sensing.

Soon she sensed through the mist and past the wires at Menma standing near the wall of the arena, crossbow at the ready. She could sense his emotions. He seemed to be very focused on the match, but underneath that she felt confusion, hatred directed at someone else, and sadness. She frowned a bit, it seemed as if he still hated something, but at least she could tell it was no longer focused at them.

She shook her head and focused on the match. The four chakra blades suddenly launched at his position at fast speeds.

Menma stared at the cloud of poison mist, knowing that it wouldn't be enough to stop Shio. He focused a lot of chakra into the mist to prevent it from blowing away again with a wind jutsu. The real threat to the mist were his threads. He shot two arrows in the mist when he felt one snap. He was right, it seemed she did have something to counter his poison mist.

However before he could prepare to fire another shot four glowing blue blades shot at him from the mist. He quickly dodged the blades recognizing them from his last match with Shio.

(In the Kage stands)

Minato's eyes widen at the chakra blades, he did not know Shio could do that.

Onoki looked at the blades interestingly and turned to the Hokage "Interesting, they seem to be similar to your wife's chakra chains."

A agreed with the Tsuchikage "Yes it is interesting, it seems she can hone in on an opponent's chakra signature and have the blades follow him or her. What a frightening ability."

Rasa nodded "Yes and with Menma's mist and wires he can't break her concentration because she is protected by his own trap. She is definitely showing chunin potential."

(Arena)

Menma was inwardly cursing as he continuously dodged blue chakra blades. She had cornered him with his own trap. He had to break Shio's concentration. He had already ended the stream of chakra into his mist, but with the amount of chakra he had pumped inside, it could take over twenty minutes to dissipate.

He blocked a chakra blade with a chakra scalpel and had an idea. He flashed through some handseals into the chakra threads that were still inside the hair wires "Paralytic morning dew!" he doubted it would paralyze her, the Juubi chakra inside of her would prevent it, but it would provide enough of a distraction to end the chakra blades.

Shio smirked as she directed the blades at her brother, she was definitely being promoted for this stunt, who would think to use this situation to their advantage? She frowned when she felt a rain drop on her shoulder. It was sunny how could it be raining?

She felt more raindrops and lifted a hand and examined it. The raindrop seemed wrong, the color was a very light green. She could also sense Naruto's chakra in the water and her eyes widened, it was not water, it was poison!

She remembered this move when he beat Mizuki. She knew the poison wasn't strong enough due to the Kyuubi but enough of it could slow her down, she started navigating the web to get out of the mist, poisoned drops continuing to fall on her.

She eventually managed to make it out of the mist, drenched in the poison. She used a small wind ninjutsu to dry herself but knew she would be a bit slowed down due to the poison.

(Kage Stands)

Rasa nodded "A wise tactic, to break her concentration and drive her out of the mist he transformed the chakra in the wires into his toxins. They are definitely proving themselves in this match)

The rest of the Kage's agreed with his assessment.

(Arena)

The mist had finally dissipated and everyone could see the wires still covering the field. Shio knew she would have to get rid of the wires if she wished to engage her brother at close combat. She planted her sword in the ground and went through some handseals "Wind style: Cutting Breakthrough!" Instead of the traditional great breakthrough, she had altered the jutsu to cut instead of push.

All of the wires in the path of the jutsu were cut down. However Shio had to quickly pick her nodochi back up to block a chakra scalpel. Soon they were in a fierce contest of sword vs scalpel as they used their respective styles to try and gain an edge over the other.

Menma frowned as they separated. He could not drag this fight on too long, he needed chakra for the next round. He noticed Shio did not bring back her chakra blades and assumed they took a lot of chakra to use. He glanced around at the many cut wires around the field and had to hold in a smirk. Checkmate.

Shio mentally reviewed her chakra, it was about three fourths empty (for her about enough chakra for a jonin to last an entire A-rank mission). Her chakra blades were very chakra intensive so she decided not to use them to save chakra for the next match. The Uzumaki was about to attack Menma with her nodochi again before she froze, she couldn't move. She glanced around herself and saw the many wires that were littering the field wrapping around her, forming a cocoon. She looked to menma and saw him directing them with chakra strings. She sighed, looks like he won this round. She called out before he could complete the cocoon "Proctor, I forfeit."

Genma nodded and raised his arm "Winner, Menma!"

The crowd was a mix of cheering and booing. Which is to be expected since Konoha's golden girl lost. Menma looked around the arena and felt something heavy that he never realized was on his shoulders be removed. He had finally proved himself to everyone.

He smiled while leaving the arena.

(In the Stands)

Kushina was clapping and smiling proudly for her two children. She was sad that Shio lost but proud that Menma had gotten so strong alone. Despite his style not even being remotely similar to their own she was proud, proud of the fact that he can now create his own legend outside of their shadow and prove to the world that he is strong. Kushina knew she would never be able to support him as a mother, but she would be behind him all the way, supporting him in any way she could.

She continued to smile as she clapped for Menma, her forgotten son.

(Kage Box)

Rasa spoke first "Impressive, to come from the brink of defeat to use such an unconventional strategy to defeat the Uzumaki. Not many people would think to use a failed trap to ensnare their enemy."

Onoki nodded "Yes he is a skilled brat, however the blond gaki proved her worth today as well. She managed to show the aptitude of a Chunin during this fight."

Minato agreed, proud for both of his children "Yes, they both are definitely chunin material."

(Arena)

After the noise from the previous match died Genma spoke up again "The next match of today will be Umi vs Gaara!"

 **Umi vs Gaara**

Umi stood before Gaara, mentally preparing for this confrontation. The genin in front of him had crippled and killed his way to this point in the competition. He wouldn't be another number added to that list.

Genma raised his hand "Hajime!"

Moving quickly Umi took out five water scrolls and unsealed them, causing water to burst forth at Gaara. Umi went through four hand seals "Wave style: Great Tsunami!" The 5 bursts of water converged and became a giant wave, seemingly engulfing Gaara and the bottom of the arena with water. The water continued to rise until it was 10 feet deep. Umi continued to go through handseals until he clasped his hands as if in prayer and the water became choppy and stormy. He started to speed through the water, searching for the red haired suna genin. He looked through the entire water but couldn't find him. Where was he…?

Umi's eyes widened as he dodged a meteor of sand streaking from the air into the water, seemingly homing in on him. He looked around the water and saw an eye ball in the water, staring at him. He sped towards it, dodging sand (now mud) missiles until she slashed through the eye with his trident. The sand stopped in the water and fell to the bottom, but he knew where Gaara was now. He surfaced and stared into the air where Gaara was standing on a platform of stand, arms crossed and staring at him. From the sky. He cursed, he never had guessed that Gaara could fly on his sand. However, he had no access to any sand other than on his back, he had the advantage.

Umi flashed through hand seals and bubbles started to rise from the water around him, lifting into the air around Gaara. Only some of the Jonin in the arena could see that the bubbles were actually highly concentrated pockets of water. He went through four more hand seals, dodging small missiles of sand from Gaara as he did so and the bubbles all started to swarm Gaara from all directions.

Gaara in response surrounded himself in sand, becoming a floating orb in the sky. The bubbles of water all rammed into the ball, denting it slightly but not penetrating the hard compacted shell.

(In the stands)

Baki stared at the floating orb and thought 'The fool, he can't transform now, especially not against a non-konoha genin!'

(Kage stands)

The dragon masked anbu directly behind the Hokage glanced at the other guards around the Kages, especially the Kazekage. He had planned to have the invasion a bit later but with this new development he would have to act sooner. He pressed on his right arm a bit before shifting back to his normal position, ignoring the questioning glance from the puma masked ANBU beside him.

(Arena)

Umi knew he needed something with piercing power and a lot of thrust to pierce that sand shield. He dove back under the water and reached the bottom and held his arm straight as water started to swirl around it. As the water gathered he thought to himself 'Water style: Sea King's Drill.'

He channeled the water around him to launch him out of the water at high speeds, piercing the drill directly at the orb, hitting the fleshy shoulder of the genin within.

Gaara started in open eyed shock at the large wound on his shoulder. He had never been injured before. He felt himself going into shock as he muttered "Blood? Is this…my blood?! BLOOD, MOTHER MY BLOOD, IM BLEEDING!"

Umi's eyes widened as he heard the voice inside the ball and jumped away quickly and jumped on top of the now calm waters. The sand ball seemed to spike in several different directions before exploding, leaving Gaara standing on the water, clutching his shoulder.

However before anyone could react, feathers dropped down from the sky and everyone below High chunin level fell asleep in the Arena except for a notable few genin and experienced chunin ninja. Umi looked around, having released the genjutsu before an explosion of smoke erupted from the Kage stands.

(Kage Stands)

The Dragon ANBU grabbed Minato before anyone could react and dragged him up to the roof, the Suna Kage's guards separated into four figures and erected a barrier around the two, trapping them inside.

The ANBU chuckled darkly before removing his mask, revealing himself to be Orochimaru.

In the Kage box below, Rasa quickly grabbed A and Mei and shushined away before they could react.

(Arena)

It was chaos, Konoha's veteran jonin and high chunin ninjas clashed with Sound and Sand ninja as the invasion began. The foreign ninja that visited for the Chunin exams were unsure what to do.

(Arena roof)

Minato stood across from the revealed Orochimaru with a Harashin kunai at the ready "I do not see how this trap of yours can succeed Orochimaru, I can just flash right out of this barrier."

Orochimaru licked his lips and chuckled again "Kukuku, that would be true if this barrier did not prevent any foreign chakra from entering or leaving this field, your Hirashin kunai are useless around Konoha."

Minato gritted his teeth "That may be so but I will defeat you here Orochimaru!"

Orochimaru would have continued but outside the barrier a large white square suddenly ate through the translucent field around the roof and Onoki floated in. The small man seemed quite ticked about something "Does everyone just forget me because I'm old?!" The Tsuchikage glared at the snake "Orochimaru, S ranked criminal in every country, number one on the most wanted list in the land of stone for illegal experiments on bloodline users including the Jinton."

Onoki looked at Minato "I may not like Konoha, but I would be damned if we let such a monster slip through the cracks."

Orochimaru looked darkly at the Tsuchikage "You would help the sworn enemy of Iwa against someone trying to do what Iwa attempted three times?"

Onoki lifted his hands up and a small white cube formed "I have been through three wars. I've fought Madara Uchiha and Hirashima Senju and lived to tell the tale. I have ordered massacres and performed massacres on more people than this gaki beside me. I did not become known as the Great Fence Sitter for being a hypocrite!"

Onoki lifted himself to his full height in the air and shouted out in a voice full of power, chakra amplifying his voice " **People of Iwa! Fight against the Sound and Sand, lets show these tree huggers how true Shinobi fight in a war!"**

Around the arena unsure Iwa shinobi felt invigorated by the voice of their Tsuchikage and started fighting alongside the Konoha ninja for the first time in history.

(Center of the Arena)

Mei and A stood across from Rasa, preparing for the inevitable confrontation. Mei glared at the Kazekage "Why are you doing this Rasa? You stand no chance against the both of us."

Rasa crossed his arms and gold dust started to gather around him "That may be true normally, however I have no choice in this situation." He released a henge and revealed himself, his skin was grey as a corpse and his eyes were black. He had been resurrected by the Impure World Resurrection.

A clenched his fist "I read reports that Tobirama created a jutsu to revive the dead, but I did not believe it."

Rasa lifted his arms and the gold dust started to gather threateningly "I have no control over my actions so I will tell you this, my gold dust has no normal weaknesses to fire or other elements. The only thing that can break its defense is brute force."

Mei and A nodded and shouted together to the arena " **Shinobi of Kiri/Kumo, join with Konoha and Iwa in defeating the invaders!"**

(On the roof)

Orochimaru glared at the arena where Konoha were fighting side by side with Kiri, Kumo, and Iwa. In none of his plans did they help Konoha. He had assumed they would be at least neutral. He had sent the resurrected Rasa to delay A and Mei from helping Minato. He had not bothered with the Tsuchikage because of his age. He did not assume he would be a threat. However as he looked at the large white cube in the diminutive man's hands he knew he made a mistake.

(Arena stands)

Menma and Shio were battling some nameless sound chunin when Kakashi flashed in, killing them all in seconds. The cyclops turned to the two genin seriously "You two, I have an A ranked mission for you. Your job to follow Gaara and the other sand genin and stop them from unleashing their jinchurriki, Umi and Sasuke have already began the chase, you are to act as their back up!"

Shio and Menma saluted and said in unison "understood" and jumped through a hole in the wall to the forest, following the chakra signatures of Gaara.

The battle lines were set and the invasion of Konoha had begun.

 **AN: And so begins the invasion arc. I apologize for the delay on this chapter. I have recently started working so I do not have as much time to write. Anyway I wanted to clear something up. I am not planning on doing many of the movies/fillers in the series. The only ones I'm seriously considering is the filler with Shizuka and when Naruto/Sakura go into a different dimension. If you have any comments or recommendations on which fillers/movies you wish me to include, let me know. Thank you.**


	15. Chapter 15: The Invasion

**AN: Greetings all. I am shocked at the popularity of this story 1,000 followers in 16 days? I hope I can continue to meet my reader's expectations. I do not have many announcements so I will go ahead and answer some comments.**

 **Autredmode: Its anime, you can't have a spider contract and shoot out fire either.**

 **Diablo200030002002: If you had bothered to read my ANs I have already stated four times that there will be no lemons in this story. The romance (if there really is any) will be near the end of Shippudden and in "The Last." In addition, in many of the abandonment fics I've read (if they ever get past the point where they remember him) usually the romance is not incest.**

 **Biob1: I agree that for fanfictions Naruto is weak. However, I wanted a more gradual upturn in abilities as a genin. He is self-trained and did not use the shadow clone training method that much. As for the black blood, I was going to give it to him as a genin…then I rewatched soul eater and decided to save it for later. He will have black blood, just now now. It is way too op for any genin villains. During the time skip he will have a proper teacher and will be much stronger in Shippuden.**

 **However I have been getting comments that he is pretty weak so far, so soon I will give him a pretty strong ability.**

 **Anyway I will get to the story.**

 **Chapter 15:**

 **The Invasion:**

(Arena Roof)

Minato and Onoki stood and floated across from Orochimaru. They were about to engage when Orochimaru flashed through some handseals and three coffins rose from the ground. The coffins had the letters 1 2 and 3 in Kanji.

Onoki stared at the coffins "What are they supposed to be?" He glanced at Minato and saw him pale, what was this jutsu?"

The lids of the coffins opened and Hashirama Senju, Tobirama Senju, and Hiruzen Sarutobi stepped out.

Onoki gapped for a second seeing his old rivals "What is this jutsu!?"

Minato grimaced "Impure World Ressurection, the blackest of fuinjutsu arts. Forcefully dragging a soul from the pure world via fuinjutsu in exchange for another soul. It is one of the worst S-rank secrets of Konoha."

Onoki snorted and stared at the now aware previous Hokages "Hmph, well if they died once, they can die again."  
Minato shook his head "From the reports of the testing of the jutsu they can't be killed by physical means, you either have to completely obliterate the body or remove the soul."

Tobirama spoke for the first time "A Konoha Shinobi fighting alongside an Iwa ninja. Now I have seen everything."

Hashirama looked at Tobirama "Come now Tobi! It has been nearly a century since our deaths, surely Iwa and Konoha have made peace by now right?"

Hiruzen sighed a bit "Actually only ten years ago we ended the third great shinobi war against them. I feared relations would never recover. But I see they are starting to mend."

Orochimaru chuckled "Well this is interesting but I think it is about time to get killing each other." The snake-like man produced three kunai with sealing tags attached and inserted them into Hashirama and Tobirama's heads, but before he could put it in Hiruzen, the old monkey swatted the hand away and kicked the startled Sannin away.

Sarutobi jumped to the other two kages and explained to their amazed looks "A person who has given their soul to the Shinigami can only be controlled by the Shinigami. The one weakness of the impure world resurrection is if the soul is not in the pure world, they cannot be controlled upon resurrection."

He continued seriously "I will distract the first and second Hokage, you two defeat Orochimaru."

Minato and Onoki nodded and they separated, preparing for the battle ahead.

(Arena floor)

The battle between the three Kages was fierce in the center of the arena. A had already equipped his Raiton no Yoroi while Mei had gathered a toxic mist around herself as an armor while repeatedly sending high powered water and lava attacks at Rasa.

Rasa used his gold dust as a shield and sword, defending against the enemy's attacks while counter attacking. He explained his moves before he used them to his contemporaries "My gold dust is slow compared to my predecessors, but heavier. Gold is one of the heaviest metals but also one of the softest. Gathered in large amounts they make a good defense but enough brute force should be able to pierce it. I do not recommend trying to channel lightning ninjutsu into my metal, gold is an excellent conductor of electricity."

A nodded and charged forward full throttle and jumped high into the air over Rasa "Heel drop!" he yelled as he smashed into the top of the golden dome with the force of a meteor. The gold was smashed inward like tin foil and the Raikage blasted straight through Rasa, killing any normal man. Unfortunately Rasa was still affected by the resurrection technique and soon reformed.

Mei flashed through handseals and her cheeks expanded and she thought "Lava release: Lava Globs" The technique sent large balls of Lava into the air before hurling themselves at the gold dust. The gold stood no chance against the molten earth and melted into liquid gold.

A called across to Mei "Keep melting his gold, even if he can regenerate he can't fight nearly as effectively without his primary weapon!"

The Mizukage nodded and she kept flashing through hand signs, blasting the gold dust with lava while A provided defense and protected her from any stray blasts of the heavy metal.

Rasa flashed through handsigns and he seemed alarmed as he viewed his hands "You must dodge this technique, it is the technique I used to defeat the Ichibi! The technique compresses my gold dust into a large gold bar, this bar then blasts into the earth, completely flattening it. If you are caught by it, no defense will be able to protect you."

The Fourth Kazekage finishes his handseals and calls out "Imperial Gold Coffin!" A grabbed his Mizu counterpart and flashed away with great speed, breaking through the gold dust that had surrounded them to prevent them from escaping the technique. The Raikage was right in time as the sand was quickly sent into the earth, creating a perfect square hole in the ground.

Mei saw the hold and went through some handseals and spat lava into the hole, melting all of the gold dust inside. Rasa looks at his fellow Kage "Congratulations, you are the first two shinobi to escape that technique, and to remove my primary weapon."

Rasa takes out two daggers and wind gathered on them until they formed scimitars "Don't think I made Kazekage for my magnet release alone!"

(Konoha Forest)

Menma and Shio were running through the forest at top speed. Shio could sense the signatures of Sasuke and the Sand genin and they were rapidly gaining on them thanks to her "Wind Tunnel Technique."

Menma glanced behind him "There are six sound ninja following us. They are gaining on us so I assume they are at least high chunin.

The blond genin nodded and was about to unseal her nodochi when Menma shook his head "Sasuke and Umi stand no chance against all three of them at the same time. This isn't an enclosed arena, Umi can't use his tricks here. I will stay behind and take them."

Shio wanted to argue but before she could Menma used his hair to create a web between them "I will defeat them and follow after you, go!"

Shio nodded and jumped off after Sasuke and Umi.

When he was alone he ran through some handseals and bit his thumb, summoning four large spiders, around the size of his head "attack on my signal." The spiders chittered and scuttled off.

He extended his chakra web and felt the incoming enemies and grimaced a bit, this would be tricky.

(Deep Konoha Forest)

Umi and Sasuke had caught up with the sand trio and were chasing them through the forest.

Temari glanced over her shoulder "We can't keep running from them, one has to be the distraction." Kankuro nodded and unwound Crow and turned to the approaching Konoha genin and glanced at Temari "Go."

The fan user nodded and jumped off.

Soon after she left Umi and Sasuke landed on a branch across from him. The Tidecaller glanced at the Uchiha "You follow after the other two, I'll cover you."

Sasuke nodded and jumped around the Sand Genin. Kankuro pulled at his chakra strings "Like I would let you!"

Before the puppet could impact Sasuke a ball of water impeded the puppet and Kankuro had to dodge a thrust from the trident and Umi shouted "Your opponent is me!"

Umi drew water from the area and with some handseals he launched condensed spheres of water at Kankuro, the puppet user tried to block with crow, but the water cannonballs blasted through the chest of the puppet and Kankuro had to dodge several more spheres of water.

Kankuro grimaced at the remains of his puppet 'I didn't bring more than Crow with me to Konoha, what a mistake. I never figured I would face an opponent with such mastery over an element. However he saw the head of his puppet behind Umi and had to keep a smirk off his face.

Umi ran forward prepared to deal a finishing blow when the head of the crow puppet pierced his chest from behind. He was wide eyed with shock as it pulled out and into Kankuro's hand. The Tidecaller knew he didn't have much time so he would have to use one of the techniques that earned him his title, his hands glowed green a little as he flashed through handsigns "Healing Spring of the Mountain!" a jet of water excited his hands and hit Kankuro in the chest and bounced back to him, enveloping him in the water.

Kankuro flipped back onto a lower branch and held his chest. That water had hurt. However Umi should be dead by now.

However before Kankuro could move he was knocked down by a sphere of water and he glanced up to see Umi fully healed. He managed to gasp painfully "H-How?"

Umi glanced at the fallen puppet user "I earned the title Tidecaller after summoning a wave onto a battle field that healed my allies while damaging the enemy severely enough for the Mizukage to gain an opportunity to sneak through and kill Yagura. I have discovered how to channel healing chakra into water jutsu. This allows me to damage my enemies while healing people I perceive as allies."

Kankuro passed out and Umi began to breathe heavier, what he didn't tell Kankuro is that his healing abilities do not heal poison. Soon Umi passed out as well and fell down on the branch he was on.

(With Sasuke)

Sasuke eventually caught up to the two Suna genin but it appeared that Gaara was awake and argueing with the fan user.

Gaara shoved Temari away "Get away from me."

Temari started to panick a bit "Gaara! We have to leave, you're wounded and the Shukaku could escape!"

Gaara shoved Temari away with his sand and turned to the Konoha genin "Your eyes are the same as mine. My mother will savor your blood."

Sasuke couldn't help but shiver at hearing the sand user's voice. It was devoid of life and utterly lost to hatred 'Is this the cost of fully giving oneself to hatred?'

Gaara's and rushed at Sasuke at top speed and he was forced to shunshin away to a higher branch, the tree he was on was demolished.

'My fire will barely dent that sand, earth trumps fire after all. I have to find a way to pierce that shield' He remembered Umi's move with the water drill, Kakashi's chidori, and the lightning/fire combo he used against Shio. He looked down at his arm as he hid behind a tree 'It would be a gamble, but if the same concept applies as those three jutsu, I could replicate it for fire.'

Sasuke clenched his hand around his wrist and a ball of fire appeared in his palm 'more' he thought as the fire started growing around his arm, scorching hot but not burning him. 'More…more…MORE' he kept thinking as he held a huge ball of fire in his palm. He lifted the huge orb of fire and pointed it at Gaara's back and sparked lightning chakra into it.

Gaara kept destroying trees as he looked for Sasuke when he felt a massive build-up of chakra behind him. He glanced behind him and widened his eyes as he saw a huge pillar of white fire hurtling towards him.

Sasuke released lightning chakra into the orb and it fired out in a beam of white fire 'I have no idea what it will do but…' "Byakko!" he screamed as he used up most of his chakra into his attack.

Gaara barely had time to react when he and the entire path of trees behind him were engulfed in the white beam of fire.

When the light died down there were holes in many of the trees in a straight line, so hot it didn't even spread the fire and a sphere of glass in the center of the point of the beam. The Uchiha looked upon the scene 'Did I win?'

However before he could react the sphere of glass shattered and a deformed Gaara walked out. The new Gaara appeared to be half covered in sand in the form of a Tanuki like monster.

Sasuke felt nothing but dread 'I used up all my chakra in that one shot, I can't beat this monster'

Gaara laughed insanely as he looked at the Konoha gennin "That was close Uchihaaaa! Now die already!" The insane genin launched a massive assault of sand at Sasuke.

However before the sand could hit it was interrupted with a large blast of wind and Shio stood there with her nodochi over her shoulder and she struck a pose while shouting "And the hero arrives!"

(With Menma)

Menma stood in the center of a clearing with his eyes closed and hands in his pockets, waiting. After a minute he tilted his head to the side to dodge a kunai that had been sent at his head. He opened his eyes a bit and glared at the six sound ninja in the trees above him. The enemy ninja snickered as they saw him and the apparent leader spoke "Menma, Orochimaru-sama wants you alive so you have two options, you can either come quietly or come gravely wounded."

Menma smirked a bit and disappeared in a cloud of smoke to the shock of the sound ninja. Before the future victims could react Menma was behind the leader and decapitated him with his chakra scalpel "I choose option three: You die."

Two of the jonin jumped to stab him from behind but froze in midair as they were stuck in a spiders web "Nothing but flies" Menma muttered as he jumped and shot both of them with his arm cross bow. He landed on the ground and cut a sword that was aiming for him with his scalpel and stuck the man's heart with his scalpel, not even looking at his victim as he ran towards the 5th ninja, going through handseals as he did so "Doku Kansen jutsu!" and his arms grew a sickly purple and his chakra scalpel turned dark green as he struck at the sound ninja.

The sound ninja blocked Menma's thrust with his arm, careful not to touch the glowing palm but started screaming as his arm grew purple and the infection started to spread.

Menma barely glanced at the dying man and looked around the battlefield, searching for his 6th opponent. He felt one of his webs snap in the forest and fired three bolts in that area, but didn't hear the signature sound of an arrow hitting flesh. He continued to search for his prey 'This one seems stronger than the others, he isn't rushing in blindly underestimating me because I am a genin.'

He saw four kunai rushing at him and he blocked them with his scalpel returning fire with his cross bow into the space where the kunai were, but once again heard nothing 'He is fast, he is probably a jonin. He felt a web break behind him and he quickly jumped out of the way, barely dodging a sound ninja who sped past 'What the, that was as fast as Lee after opening the first gate!'

The sound ninja seemed to be a white line as he jumped around the forest around him. "Menma observed the pattern of the ninja and dodged when the man rushed at him 'He can't control his own speed so he has to jump around the place before being able to rush at me. There is no way this speed is natural, he must have been experimented on by Orochimaru to be this fast.'

Soon the man stopped jumping as he was revealed to Menma. He was a giant of a man with a huge amount of muscle mass.

Menma observed the man 'I was right, there is no way that someone with that amount of weight on them can be this fast naturally. He must use steroids.' He glanced at the man's bulging muscles 'If what I know of steroids are correct, he must use them to build up his muscle mass, increase his speed, and also I assume he used steroids to block his pain receptors.'

Menma took out a senbon and waited for the man to attack 'I have to time this right or I'm dead'. The man crouched down in a runners stance and sprung forward at menma at top speed "NOW!" he yelled and 6 strands of web shot from the forest behind the steroid freak and slowed him down enough for Menma to slam the senbon down directly into the man's nerve cluster in his leg.

The sound ninja's leg spasmed and he began yelling in pain and agony.

Menma sighed in relief, he was right the man had never felt pain before. He was similar to Gaara, any amount of pain is enough to take him out of commission. He walked up to the still crying man and walked past him while slitting his neck with his scalpel and dashed into the forest 'I have to get to Shio, she can't win against Gaara alone.'

(Arena Roof)

Orochimaru bent out of the way of Minato and his rasengan and dodged a white cube from Onoki. The two Kage's made an excellent team, Minato relentlessly attacking while Onoki provided support with his Jinton ninjutsu. Orochimaru had already drawn his Kusanagi blade and was able to dodge most of Minato's ninjutsu.

Hiruzen was doing an admirable job distacting his former senseis. The two previous Hokage seemed to have a little control to prevent them from doing their most powerful moves so Hiruzen had the advantage with his adamantine staff.

Minato had spread his Hirashin kunai around the barrier and was relentlessly assaulting Orochimaru with his attacks "You shouldn't have come here Orochimaru, you are at a severe disadvantage."

Orochimaru scowled "Even if this battle is not in my favor Konoha will still fall today, the Shukaku will be released and bury this wretched city in sand."

Minato smiled and thought of Shio and Menma "I have faith in the next generation to defeat your Jinchuuriki!"

They continued to battle until they felt a dark presence behind them and they turned to see Hiruzen disintegrating along with the two Hokages, a familiar seal on his stomach. Minato's eyes widened 'He used the death reaper seal from beyond the grave?!'

Hiruzen seemed to struggle to talk and turned to the fourth hokage "Minato..hah… Protect the will of fire of this village, I died with no regrets. I died protecting the future generations of this village. Always…believe…in…them…

With those words the third Hokage died a second time and crumbled to dust, revealing the Sound genin Kin Tsuchi.

However while Minato was distracted by the Hokage, Orochimaru extended the Kusanagi and managed to cut off Minato's right arm.

In spite of this Onoki had already sent a jinton beam of light at Orochimaru, disintegrating The Snake Sannin's arms to dust.

Orochimaru screamed in rage "Lower the barrier, retreat!"

Onoki was prepared to give chase but the Sannin had already retreated in a reverse summoning ninjutsu. The Tsuchikage turned to the Hokage and saw him bandaging his arm assisted by the anbu who were watching outside of the barrier.

He looked down upon the arena and saw that the other two kage were wrapping up their fight as well.

(In the Arena)

Rasa had used up all of his kunai and shuriken and A shouted to Mei "Mei, disintegrate him! Do not let him regenerate!"

Mei nodded and flashed through some handsigns "Lava Style: Disintegrating sink hole!" She punched the ground and underneath rasa the earth turned to lava and the former Kazekage was disintegrated in lava.

The two Kage looked around the arena and saw most of the battles over, the brief alliance between villages had defeated the Sand and Sound.

However before anyone could do anything far in the distance the shape of Shukaku could be seen.

Onoki floated down and shouted to his ninja "Everyone, gather a squad and come with me to take care of the Bijuu!"

The Other Kage did the same and they rushed to the Bijuu, hoping they were not too late to save the gennin fighting the beast.

(In the Forest)

Shio stood on a branch staring at the massive form of the Shukaku. She had defeated his first form by spamming shadow clones and hitting him in the ass with an explosive note. But not it looked like she could use some help.

Menma landed next to her "I see he has released the Bijuu, we should work together with our summons to defeat it."

Shio nodded and they both flashed through handsigns " **Summoning Jutsu!"** In twin massive clouds of smoke a large red toad and a giant black widow spider appeared.

Gamabunta glanced at his opponent and ally in this battle and spoke " **Shukaku huh? Been a while since I fought a Bijuu. And to think I would be fighting one alongside the spider clan."**

The black widow spider spoke in an echoing chittering voice " **Likewise toad, I, the second in command of the spider clan Achrya, will show the world the might of the spider clan."**

Gaara on top of the Shukaku laughed and spoke madly "Mother will have your blood Uzumaki, Menma!" The mad suna genin ran though some handseals "Sleeping Possom jutsu!"

Gaara fell asleep and the Shukaku was fully released from the seal " **Woohooo! I am free baby!"** the sand tanuki looked at his opponents " **And I already have people in front of me to kill, talk about service!"**

Achrya arched her back and prepared to fight the bijuu " **You shall be the one to perish here Tanuki."**

Gamabunta drew his giant tanto " **I won't get shown up by yesterday's dinner, you're going down sand rat."**

With those words the three titans fought fiercely. Achrya using her acid to support Gamabunta's water attacks and both of them using their abilities to counter Shukaku's wild swings and wind jutsus. Eventually after fighting a titanic battle and reshaping the landscape, Gamabunta ran forward and Shio transformed the giant toad into the Kyuubi. Shio jumped off of Gamabunta and ran up the Shukaku's head, trying to reach the suna genin.

As she neared Gaara sand sprang up to stop her but each was blasted by a chakra covered arrow. Menma stood on the head of his summon with his large crossbow and called out "Go Shio! End this!"

Shio nodded and dodged more sand until she headbutted Gaara and they Shukaku cracked and fell apart and the two gennin landed on ground, both summons disapearing into clouds of smoke as they fell.

Menma arrived to hear the end of the conversation about fighting to protect one's loved ones by Shio and jumped down next to her to show his support. Gaara looked contemplative as he was carried off by the other two Sand Ninja.

Menma sighed and collapsed back to back with Shio. Shio laughed softly "Rough day at work huh?"

Menma snorted "I could have worked a few more hours."

Shio smiled and nodded "I'm sure."

They were silent for a few moments before Shio spoke up again "You really worried me with that stunt with the sound ninja. You shouldn't risk yourself so needlessly like that."

Menma was silent for a few moments "It was a necessary risk, you were better equipped to help Sasuke and Umi with your faster speed and I am better against multiple opponents. It was logical."

Shio sighed "I don't mean it like that. I was worried about you. Not the logic of the situation."

Menma was surprised at that "We have only known each other for a short time. I do not see why you would be worried about my safety.

Shio sighed exasperated and turned the spider summoner around "It doesn't matter that we haven't truly known each other for long. We may not be family anymore, but I still love you, maybe not as a brother but as a friend. You are one of my precious people and I want you to remain safe.

Menma was speechless but before he could respond a bunch of ninja jumped around them. The two genin were relieved to see a bunch of Leaf headbands among the ninja.

The Kages stepped forward and Minato, with a bandached stump for his right arm spoke first "Shio….Menma, what happened here?"

Menma and Shio looked around the area, large patches of sand, broken trees, huge ponds of water, acid eating away at some trees and both turned around and Shio rubbed the back of her head sheepishly "Well…it is a long story."

 **AN: And that is chapter 15. I hope everyone liked my take on the invasion arc. Took me awhile to write all of the battle scenes. So Minato has lost an arm to the Kusanagi. I can probably tell most of you already know where I'm going with that. Anyway I am planning another story in the future after this one. I am going to make it a xover with League of legends and Naruto. The story will have a fem Naruto gaining the powers of a league character. I am thinking either Lissandra or Zyra. If anyone has any comments on that future plot idea or on this story, let me know and I will take them into consideration. Thank you ^_^**

 **P.S. I decided not to do the Land of Snow filler. I am excited for Shippuden and want to hurry up the first season of Naruto.**


	16. Chapter 16: Search for the Senju

**AN: Greetings all. Time for the 16** **th** **chapter of this story. This chapter marks the end of the Chunin exam arc and the start of the search for Tsunade. Anyway since I havn't done this in a couple of chapters: I do not own any part of Naruto besides my ocs. Even then anyone is free to use them for ideas in their own fanfiction, I'm not territorial. Anyway after the pointless disclaimer is over I will answer some questions:**

 **TheWiseGamer: A good suggestion, but I am more likely not going to have him be trained by Morimo Ibiki. He is good at what he does, but does not have a lot of combat potential for Naruto. Perhaps you could write a fanfiction where Naruto does learn from Ibiki? Would be interesting.**

 **InfernoOfChaos: Naruto's hatred has not disappeared. It is sorta similar to Sasuke in that his hatred has shifted from his family to Madara, Izanami, Kaguya, and partially Inari. I see a bunch of comments that Naruto lost his anger at his family too fast. I want to say this: Canon Naruto forgave the villagers after all the shit they put him through. This Naruto is very different, but still the same person and has some of the same morals. If the original Naruto can forgive the villagers for being assholes, Naruto can forgive his former family for something outside of their control.**

 **Maelstrom of the Nine: I agree that my fights are a bit rushed. However I am doing this to get to Shippuden where things get much more interesting.**

 **RickJames196: I stated before in an AN that Naruto was born a year before Shio. He is in the same generation as Neji, Lee, and Tenten. I also see your point about the soul of the Kyuubi. Yes. That is very cliché. However in my fanfic the Kyuubi (or Inari) is actually involved and not just a byproduct. Naruto does not hold the "Soul" of the Kyuubi but rather the Kyuubi transferred his soul and consciousness through a link with Naruto that he implanted when he was sealed.**

 **Uchiha Zeref: Sasuke is not mixing elements. What he is doing is similar to a gas stove. It ignites gas via electricity. Sasuke builds up a bunch of fire chakra and maintains it, then sparks it with lightning chakra triggering an explosion in a cone in front of him. If he were actually to mix the two elements he would create bakuton or blaze release. The technique can be compared to throwing a grenade vs planting a timed bomb.**

 **I thank everyone who has commented and has put fourth such good questions. Anyway time for the story ^_^**

 **Chapter 16:**

 **Search for the Senju**

(Training Ground 9)(One week after the Invasion)(Menma POV)

The Chunin exams had ended with the invasion. Due to the damage to Konoha and the arena the matches could not be held. The four kages decided that since Sand was duped with the Edo Tensei jutsu they would not be too harsh with the hidden village. However sound was forcefully disbanded by a unanimous vote by the five major countries.

The village leaders each had decided to forgoe the usual ceremony to promote chunins to return to their home countries to report the invasion. However the first alliance of all the four countries had sparked more peace talks between the main countries. For the first time a more lasting peace was appearing possible.

A week after the exams team 9 stood at their training ground celebrating Yakumo and Menma's promotion. Anko had dragged them and Lee to the training grounds. Lee was still on crutches but was recovering from his injuries. However his back was still heavily damaged by the sand and needed a master medic to perform the necessary surgery.

Anko raised a dango stick and pronounced "And I want to congratulate my cute little chunin gakis for graduating the exams on their first try! You two made me so much money in the finals kukuku!"

Yakumo, Lee, and Menma sweatdropped 'She gambled on us?'

Yakumo turned towards Anko "Do you know who else got promoted from Konoha?"

Anko nodded "Let's see…the Namikaze passed, as well as the lazy Nara who forfeited. No idea why they promoted him."

Menma sweatdropped "I assume they promoted him to try and force responsibility into his lazy brain."

They would have spent more time talking but an ANBU jumped down "Menma, you are to come to the Hokage's Office at once."

Menma grew serious and nodded. Turning to his teammates he spoke "I guess we can continue this some other time, see ya." He disappeared in a shunshin.

(Hokage Building)

When he appeared at the Hokage building he couldn't help think 'I love that jutsu.' He had asked Anko politely to teach it for him in exchange for two weeks' worth of dango after seeing Sasuke use it in the exams.

Upon entering the office he noticed Jiraiya, Shio, and Minato with his arm still bandaged in the room. He was surprised, medical ninjutsu can re-attach arms easily.

Minato cleared his throat and spoke "Welcome everyone. I called you all here for an A-ranked mission."

Menma raised an eyebrow 'Two newly promoted chunin and a sannin? This type of team composition is unheard of, there is an underlying reason for this.'

Minato continued "You are going to search for Tsunade of the Sannin and bring her back to the village. Jiraiya has been tracking her with his spy network. Any questions?"

Menma stepped forward a bit "Yes hokage-sama. Why did you choose us to go on this mission?"

Minato nodded "Jiraiya personally requested Shio for this mission since she is now his official apprentice. I wanted you to join to provide back up. Your spiders will be an excellent way to track Tsunade."

Menma nodded but inwardly frowned, if he wished for backup he would have asked for a more experienced jonin tracker. At his current skills he would not be skilled enough to provide backup for Jiraiya 'There is something going on behind the scenes here. They want me and probably Shio out of Konoha for some reason.'

However he showed none of his inner wonderings on his face and nodded, accepting the mission.

When Shio and Menma left the room to prepare for the mission Jiraiya turned to Minato "All of my reports say that the Akatsuki is moving soon. I will look after Shio. I will also keep an eye on Menma. Orochimaru seems to have gained an interest in him and may move on him or Sasuke soon."

Minato glanced at Jiraiya "Do you really believe he will find a way to restore his arms? They were completely destroyed at the molecular level, not even cell regeneration can fix that because of the lost nerve cells."

Jiraiya nodded "Without a doubt. That snake will recover, I am sure of it."

Minato sighed "And the one person who could possibly heal that amount of damage or be able to replace his arms is Tsunade."

The sannin nodded and looked at Minato's missing arm "She is also the only one who can safely extract the poison of the Kusanagi from your severed arm for it to be re-attached."

Minato glanced at his sensei "Can you convince her to come back?"

Jiraiya shook his head "Probably not, but Shio just might be able to. She shows many similarities to Nawaki and Dan."

Minato nodded "Just be careful, I don't expect you to run into Orochimaru or the Akatsuki but you should be careful."

Jiraiya nodded and exited the room. What neither of the two kage realized however is that under Minatos desk a small spider poofed away.

(Menma's apartment)

Menma opened his eyes and canceled the spider sight technique. It was a useful technique that allowed the user to connect their senses to one of their summons. It was a weaker form of Arachne's ability.

But the information he had received from his spider worried him. He had heard rumors of the Akatsuki through some of his spider spies around the village. Apparently it's an S ranked mercenary organization that only takes the highest ranked missions that villages don't wanted to deal with. They had murdered Daimyos to entire armies. Each member was rumored to be an S ranked rogue ninja. The only reason he could be after Shio is for her Bijuu. Perhaps a different country hired them to steal the Kyuubi?"

Or was it possible Madara's plan was already unfolding. Inari had said that Madara would be hunting the BIjuu. He had assumed that Madara would be hunting them himself. But it would make more sense that he would either create or higher the Akatsuki to capture the jinchuuriki.

He cursed inwardly, he was strong for his age but an entire organization of S-ranked ninja? And that is not even mentioning the fact that Orochimaru was interested in him. He had no doubt that Orochimaru would be interested in him due to his acid release. As a poison specialist the snake probably could not resist finding out how his particular brand of jutsu worked.

He exited his apartment and walked to the front gate, meeting up with Jiraiya and Shio.

(Konoha Front Gate)(Menma's POV)

Shio was beaming with happiness when she saw him approaching "Isn't this great! This will be our first mission together Menma!"

He sighed at his former sister's seemingly endless happiness. He could swear he saw flowers around her as she beamed at him. "Sure."

She seemed to wilt at his simple response and Jiraiya spoke up for the first time "Let's get going. I have heard reports that Tsunade was last sighted near Tanzuka Gai. It will take a few days to get there if we hurry."

The three jumped into the surrounding forest and began to tree hop to their destination.

However what no one in Konoha knew is that two figures in black cloaks and red clouds were standing on the wall surrounding Konoha.

(2 days later)(6 P.M Outlying Town)(Menma POV)

The three Konoha ninja had been running each day to the town where Tsunade was last spotted, Jiraiya gathering more information. He had summoned Arachne in private and she had told him that Tsunade was staying at Tanzuka Gai for the next week so she can visit the many casinos in the area. He had sweatdropped when he had learned that she had already spent more than he had ever earned as a ninja already and had not won any of it back.

They had stopped at a town near Tanzuka Gai and were going to enter the city the next morning.

Jiraiya had already tried to seduce a women he had just met and they had found a hotel.

Menma was leaning against the wall reading a book when Shio perked up a bit and said "There are two massive chakra signatures entering the Hotel. One is high jonin level while the other is even greater than mine."

Menma's eyes widened 'Shio is a jinchurriki, Uzumaki, and daughter of a kage, if this man's chakra is higher than hers he is either another jinchuuriki or a true chakra monster.' He put a bookmark in his book and put it on the desk "The chances of two high level ninjas being here are slim, if they really are here for us we should get into a better position" He opened the window and jumped out to a park near the hotel along with Shio.

They stood there for a few moments when Shio commented "I can feel their chakra signatures in our room. What should we do? They are more than likely stronger than us."

Menma sighed and extending his first two fingers in a Ram sign "Let's see how skilled they are"

(Hotel room)

Itachi and Kisame had just broken into the Jinchuuriki's room to see no one in it. Itachi walked forward to inspect the room when Kisame commented "Are they out or did they detect us and ran away?"

Itachi glanced around the room and spotted the bookmarked book but dismissed it and activated his Sharingan to check for chakra signatures. However upon its activation he saw the hidden seal on the book and shouted to Kisame "Move!"

(Park)

Menma channeled chakra into the chakra string attached to the book he placed down "Katsu!"

(Hotel Room)

A blue barrier surrounded the room and the enhanced exploding tag on the bookmark exploded, contained in the chakra field. Against any normal ninja this would have been their end. However thanks to Kisame's Samehada they had escape the room and both appeared at the park where the two chunin were waiting for them.

(Park)

Menma and Shio stood across from the two Akatsuki members. Itachi spoke first "Shio Uzumaki, I would like you to come with us." The Uchiha had phrased it like a question, but the order was unmistakable.

Menma looked at the two ninjas "Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki, both S-ranked missing ninja. Are you with the Akatsuki?"

Shio glanced at me, not knowing what the Akatsuki was.

Kisame twitched "First Kakashi and now you gaki?"

Shio shouted at that comment "What do you mean first Kakashi? What did you do to my sensei?!"

Kisame smirked "Well girlie Itachi here put him into a coma a few days ago, he may never wake up."

Shio growled and was about to charge forward if Menma had nock stuck his hand out to stop her "You should retreat from here, you announced your presence underestimating us which gave me plenty of time to prepare."

Itachi raised one eyebrow when his Sharingan eyes detected movement around the surrounding forest of the park.

Everyone turned and saw Sasuke standing there staring at Itachi in hatred.

Menma frowned 'What is Sasuke doing here?'

Shio shouted at the smaller Uchiha "Get out of here Sasuke! They are both S ranked criminals!"

Sasuke didn't seem to hear her and his hand was enveloped in a spiral drill of fire and he charged towards Itachi with no heed to his surroundings.

Before he could reach his clan's murderer, Itachi grabbed his arm and nullified the surrounding his hand. Itachi looked down upon his younger brother emotionlessly "Foolish little brother, you do not have enough hatred to defeat me." With those words he kicked Sasuke in the stomach and casted Tsukuyomi on the avenger.

Shio shouted "No Sasuke!"

Itachi prepared to continue to take the Jinchurriki when spiders came out of the trees. There were spiders the size of a thumb nail to the size of a small car.

Menma continued his earlier words before he was interrupted by the younger Uchiha "I have had dungeon spiders spin their webs around the surrounding forest. If you did not know, Dungeon spider silk is one of the most durable strands in the world. Enhanced with chakra no one can escape it."

Menma raised his hand and snapped his fingers, all of the spiders chittered in war cries and charged towards the two missing nin.

The Akatsuki members blasted through a wall of spiders and began to run through the forested park with all of the spiders giving chase.

Menma smirked as he thought he had outwitted two S ranked ninja but gasped as he felt some of his webs disappear and ran forward into the forest with Shio following. They made it to the edge of the park and their eyes widened as they saw a black fire burning away a wall of thick webs. Menma walked forward a bit to inspect the flames "What is this jutsu? That thread could survive a hit from one of Anko's largest snakes."

As he was inspecting the web Jiraiya appeared "What happened? I sensed a large release of chakra in this area."

Menma looked at the toad sage "As you were trying to pointlessly woe a woman two S ranked ninjas attacked us."

Jiraiya looked alarmed "Two S ranked missing nin? Who?"

Shio walked up a bit "Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki."

Jiraiya paled "How did you escape? I got a message from Konoha that those two ninja attacked some jounin and put Kakashi in a coma!"

Menma nodded to the forest where one could still see the many spiders "When Shio felt the chakra signatures of the two Akatsuki members I sent two clones into the forest around the park and began summoning swarms of spiders. I then commanded squads of spiders to weave spider webs around the park, trapping the two ninja inside. What I didn't expect is Sasuke or this jutsu to be able to blast right through my wall."

Jiraiya produced a scroll that absorbed the flames "I will study this fire to see how it works. For now we should stay in the room for the night then make our way to the town where Tsunade is."

Menma scratched the back of his head "Yeeeah, about that."

(The next Day)

It turned out that Jiraiya paid for the damages to the room since he was leading the mission. And they had set out the next day to Tanzaku Gai. It would take almost a full day so they would arrive by around 6 P.M.

(Tanzaku Gai)

The team of chunin and sannin arrived at the premier gambling center of the Land of Fire. Menma's eyes widened as he saw the city "I thought there was an ancient castle they had reconverted into a museum here?"

Jiraiya frowned and answered "Your right, there is supposed to be a castle."

Shio, serious for once, extended her senses and spoke "I can detect minute traces of Orochimaru's chakra. Either he destroyed the castle or participated in a fight that demolished the building."

Jiraiya cursed "It seems that I was right, Orochimaru needs Tsunade to heal his arms. I can only hope she refused his offer."

They followed Shio's sensing ability to a bar where Tsunade was drinking alongside her apprentice Shizune. Jiraiya called out happily "Tsunade! Fancy seeing you here!"

Tsunade scowled at the white haired toad summoner "Jiraiya, seems everyone from the past is visiting today."

Jiraiya frowned "Orochimaru huh? Surely you did not accept any deal with him. He has just recently invaded Konoha."

Tsunade frowned "I already abandoned Konoha. I won't return at a drop of a hat just because it got invaded."

Shio scowled, she had grown up on stories of Tsunade's exploits and it seemed meeting the real thing was severely disappointing "You don't care that the village your grandfather build was almost destroyed by that snake?!"

Tsunade snorted and took another long drink of sake "You mean the village that took everything from me? It can go burn for all I care."

Shio began to grow angrier "You won't even return long enough to heal people who need your help including the current Hokage?"

Tsunade looked at the blond haired girl dully "As I said before, I don't care."

Menma entered the conversation trying to appeal to her pride as a medic "What about the vows you took when you become a med-nin to always help people in need? You could save two genins entire career along with the Hokage by helping them."

Tsunade snorted at the black haired spider summoner "Vows? I gave those up long ago gaki."

The glass in Menmas hand shattered as he grew angrier. He had trained for years to become a medic and had read books published by her when he was younger. He once dreamed of getting to the same level of skill as her. He had worked so hard since childhood to be able to take his vows to be a medic. To cure injuries for others to ease their pain in a way that he never could for his abandonment. To hear this…heretic throw away her vows to be a medic?

Menma suddenly stood up and Tsunade looked at him drunkenly "What are you doing ga-" She was stopped by the look on Menma's eyes. Even inebriated she was a trained shinobi and knew the look of a killer in the black haired boy's eyes.

Menma slowly turned around and began to exit the building "Whatever we came for is not here. I don't know where the real Tsunade of the sannin is, but she is more than likely dead."

Tsunade bristled at that comment but before she could remark Menma turned around slightly and spoke some final words "All I see before us is an empty shell who has absolutely nothing. A weak women who lives in the past."

Tsunade slammed her fist on the table and broke it to pieces "You want to say that again you little shit!"

Menma started hard at one of his former role models and spoke "I didn't mumble."

Tsunade clenched her fist and Jiraiya, Shizune and Shio looked worried for his safety. Tsunade marched right up to Menma "Let's take this outside kid."

Menma nodded and walked out of the building.

Soon Tsunade stood across from Menma. She raised one finger "One finger is all I will need to beat your ass in kid."

Menma said nothing and just stood there. Tsunade seemed to become angry at this and charged forward with a war cry and flicked Menma's forhead, bursting enough chakra from her finger to cave in his skull.

However what none of the audience had expected was for the finger flick…to do absolutely no damage to Menma.

Menma stared up at the slug sannin "Is that all?" he placed his palm across Tsunades stomach and an air wave seemed to burst behind the drunk healer and she was blasted away down the street.

The others in his group felt their jaws drop at the display of chakra control. Jiraiya observed his pupils hidden legacy seriously 'He copied Tsunade's strength. To counter her super strength he put forth a strong burst of chakra to the area where she was going to hit. It was very impractical and very useless in a real battle. However Tsunade was severely underestimating Menma and he made a point of countering her best move and then using her own moves against her to unsettle Tsunade. What a scary brat.'

Menma's hair shadowed his eyes as Tsunade burst from the smoke she had upset upon landing and charged at him like a crazed bull. When she got closer he spun around the punch and deflected her arm with a burst of chakra to move the punch off course and then palm thrusted Tsunade's chin, rocketing the sannin up in the air. Menma extended his arm and muttered "I only won because you are drunk but this has been severely disappointing." His entire arm glowed green as he said "Chakra Long Scalpels"

The nearly unconscious Tsunade would have fallen on the scalpel if Jiraiya did not catch her and jumped out of the way of the attack.

Menma barely glanced at the fallen Tsunade before walking away, feeling no pleasure at his victory over one of the strongest medics in the world. It was an empty victory. He roof jumped to the top of the tallest building in Tanzuka Gai and watched the setting sun. He was angry at Tsunade because she reminded him of himself. He had felt so lost and hopeless after losing his hatred at his family. He had desperately clutched to the last remnants of his hatred at Inari, Madara, Kaguya, even Izanagi for something, anything to believe in.

He had gone on this mission to see a living legend, a woman who had lost so much and remained strong. He had wanted to learn how she remained strong in her ideals when everything was stripped away from her.

But what he saw was a broken woman who was lost in the past.

The disappointment from not finding a solution, or even just a role model to follow after and understand his problem was devastating.

Ever since he had read on Tsunade he had tried and tried to copy her super strength technique, to be just like her. A few months ago he had created an imperfect version and days ago he was adequate at the technique.

He had trained really hard to show off to Tsunade, to get her to accept him as a medic and acknowledge him. He had already gained recognition from his parents, but it was an empty feeling. He was happy they acknowledged him but he knew it was far too late to have a relationship with each other. But Tsunade was a neutral party, she had never abandoned or forgotten him. She did not even know he existed before now. She could have proven he was strong.

He knew he was being stupid. He had the acknowledgement of his team and sensei. But he had wanted to hard to prove to his childhood idol that he could surpass her and his parents.

He hung his head as tears began to flow down his cheeks and the sun dipped below the Horizon. The stars came out and he could see the moon glowing in the sky. He glared up at the giant ball in the sky as if it was the cause of all his problems. In a way it was.

He did not know what to do, but he knew he would eventually find his path. If hatred led to nothing but emptiness and if regret would leave him like Tsunade. He would find a different way, a better one.

 **AN: Greetings everyone! Before anyone asks why he did not learn Rasengan or something during the journey, it is because it would ruin the whole point of the story. I have also given him Tsunade's super strength. Before anyone says he did so without training, he has been training since childhood. Recently I have read a very interesting comment that stated my character had no purpose. This person got it in one. One point of this story is for Naruto to find his true path. I am also sorry for the delay on this chapter. As I stated last chapter I am now working so I wont be able to update as often.**


	17. Chapter 17: Rebirth of a Legend

**AN: Greetings everyone! Before anyone asks why he did not learn Rasengan or something during the journey, it is because it would ruin the whole point of the story. I have also given him Tsunade's super strength. Before anyone says he did so without training, he has been training since childhood. Recently I have read a very interesting comment that stated my character had no purpose. This person got it in one. One point of this story is for Naruto to find his true path. I am also sorry for the delay on this chapter. As I stated last chapter I am now working so I won't be able to update as often. Anyway I will respond to some of the reviews.**

 **Vandum: Arachnid was very interesting. I think I will use the "Direct Focusing thing" as the passive Senjutsu buff that Menma gains. On the other hand the main weapon would not work well in Menma's arsenal. He focuses on making traps with his hair and spider summons, he would not have time to have one of his hands holding the blade and wires.**

 **Stustu: Naruto's path will be decided on soon, I won't spoil what he chooses though.**

 **Rebmul: Mei does use the boil release, but she uses it more like an acid then burning her enemies. When she fought (aka obliterated) Sasuke she used her mist to almost melt him.**

 **I thank everyone for your support and I hope I continue to live up to all your expectations.**

 **Chapter 17**

 **Rebirth of a Legend**

 **(Hotel Room – Tanzuka Gai)(Tsunade's POV)**

Tsunade slowly awoke in the Hotel room she had Shizune rent the morning after her confrontation with Menma. Despite being drunk she remembered the entire fight and had never been so humiliated in her life. That brat had not only copied her technique but also defeated her and treated her like trash. She was ticked and now that she was sober she was preparing to beat that kid into the ground. Before she could get up to hunt the brat Jiraiya entered the room. She scowled at her former teammate "What do you want? Here to ridicule me for being defeated by a kid?"

Jiraiya shook his head "No, I'm here to explain why Menma acted like he did last night."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow but did not interrupt as Jiraiya continued "Menma was abandoned at a very early age. Since I respect his privacy I won't tell you who abandoned him. However, from what I have been able to discover is that he trained himself from the ground up for years to surpass his former family. One of the main studies he practiced in was medical ninjutsu."

Tsunade felt a bit shocked, the brat that had been able to teach her was almost fully self-trained. She knew that self-training was incredibly dangerous, without anyone to teach you correctly, one may learn incorrectly and make a critical mistake in the field. But to be able to learn medical ninjutsu without a teacher? Arguably the hardest of all the fields to learn besides fuinjutsu? The kid was a genius or an incredibly hard worker.

Jiraiya continued "He idolized your legend when he was younger. You had lost so much but continued to be strong. You were extremely strong in the fields that he wished to succeed in. But I guess when he met you, drunk and angry at the world he snapped."

Tsunade looked down in contemplation and Jiraiya was about to leave the room when he turned around slightly "I do not know what Orochimaru offered you to heal his arms. But."

The toad sannin unleashed a large amount of killing intent into the room as he stared at Tsunade "I will kill you."

Tsunade glared but did nothing. There was a reason that Jiraiya was known as the strongest sannin. He had long surpassed the medic, especially after her lack of training in these recent years.

A few minutes later after Jiraiya left she jumped out the window of her hotel room, following the chakra of Menma. Soon she found him standing beside a cliff training. He was punching the cliff repeatedly with his super strength, causing massive craters in the earth.

Menma stopped punching one more time, obliterating a boulder before turning around to face Tsunade, his face blank "What do you want Tsunada-san?"

Tsunade glared at the kid in front of her but did not attack "I want to know how you learned medical ninjutsu by yourself."

Menma looked a bit confused but responded "I mostly snuck into the hospital and stole training manuals and looked at books in the library."

Tsunade nodded and couldn't help but remember her early childhood when her parents refused to teach her medical ninjutsu, insisting she be a ninjutsu specialist like her grandparents and parents. She had herself stolen medical texts and studied on her own until she was a genin and it was too late for her parents to force her to change.

She threw a scroll to a confused Menma. She began to walk away and explained "Master that technique in a week and I'll return to Konoha to heal your friends and the Hokage."

(Menma POV)

Menma was confused, Tsunade had changed her mind pretty fast. He opened the scroll and his eyes widened. It was Tsunade's personal notes on perfecting her super strength. He had only mastered it in his arms because the hands and arms were the easiest points in the body to expel chakra. Tsunade had it at such an art she could enforce and use her super strength with any piece of her body.

It was renowned as one of the most difficult chakra control exercises in the world. If not the most difficult. The only reported chakra control exercise more difficult was the First Raikage's lightning body technique.

He read the entire scroll and closed it and looked at his hand and clenched it and a blue glow surrounded it and eventually his whole body. Tsunade said he had a week to complete this jutsu.

He would do it in three days.

(One Week Later)

Menma had completed the technique in four days and spent the other three refining the technique.

It was midafternoon when he was about to leave to find Tsunade when he had to jump out of the way as a large man crashed where he once was. He flipped away and landed on a boulder and inspected his attacker. He was a very large man with bulging muscles. He had long scraggly black hair and only wore a simple tunic and shorts. Menma glared at the man and prepared his chakra scalpatels "Who are you, and what do you want."

The man grins savagely "I have no name, I am experiment 6730. I have been ordered by Orochimaru to bring you in. I also have orders to take as much revenge as I want on you for killing experiment 6729."

Menma got into his fighting stance, lifting his palm forward with his other hand clutched in a fist by his side as he spread his legs 'I am guessing this 6729 is the man I faced in the Konoha Invasion. He used steroids to augment his speed, while this guy must augment his strength judging by the crater where he jumped down.'

The man smirked and roared as a red aura seemed to envelop him and the earth beneath him shattered, kicking up a dust cloud in the air.

Menma stared at the man wide eyes 'This is inhuman. Even with steroids he shouldn't be able to have such strength.'

The dust cleared a bit and the man rushed forward with a red aura surrounding him.

Menma barely was able to dodge a punch that shattered the boulder he had been training on for over an hour 'I see, that red aura seems to be similar to Inari's chakra. Orochimaru must have gathered some of the Kyuubi's chakra and implanted it into this man along with the steroids, massively increasing his strength.'

The man roared again and charged the chunin wildly arms spread out in case the spider summoner tried to dodge to the sides.

Menma waited for the man to get close before disappearing and drop kicking the man into the earth, shattering it and kicking up another dust cloud.

He jumped away on the top of a large boulder and continued to analyze his opponent who was getting up slowly 'I infused that kick with the amount of chakra necessary to shatter a boulder, his augmentations must have increased his defenses as well.' He paused to observe the man looking around blindly in a rage 'The kyuubi's chakra is greatly increasing his rage by the second, he is more beast than man now. I will need some serious piercing power to penetrate his defenses, time to use one of the moves that I learned over this past week.'

Menma gathered chakra into his palm and sped forward, a blue aura surrounding his palm and fist as he pushed chakra though his legs to increase his speed 'My poisons will be infective against him so I will have to go with brute force!"

While the experiment turned around only to get a palm thrust at his gut, causing a massive air wave behind the man before blasting him away into the side of the cliff.

Menma thought of his technique that he learned 'by using my medical knowledge I know where to strike to send the vibrations of my palm thrust into the body, damaging the internal organs similar to the Hyuga, add in Tsunade's super strength and you turn those vibrations into sound waves, rupturing the internal organs.

The dust from the palm thrust cleared to show the man slowly standing up the red aura around him growing stronger.

Menma stared at the still standing member wide eyed 'what the hell, I completely obliterated his internal organs, even Shio does not heal this fast. He must have been further experimented upon to heal this fast.'

The battle was interrupted by three large animals appearing in the distance and Menma glanced at them 'Those are the three great summons of Konoha, it seems Orochimaru is fighting Tsunade and Jiraiya…or Tsunade allied herself with Orochimaru against Jiraiya, either way I need to finish this quickly.'

However when he looked at his opponent again he was blasted away by a punch to the gut, he coughed out a little blood and went hurtling back into a boulder and nearly passed out from the blunt force trauma. He gasped a little for air as he felt his stomach 'Thank god I wrapped some dungeon spider silk around my mid-section or I would have broken every bone in my chest area.' Quickly using the healing palm jutsu and some of his regenerative toxins he stored within his blood he jumped away from another attack by the experiment.

Menma landed in the shadow of a boulder and thought carefully 'I have to be careful, one hit to any other part of my body which is unarmored by spider silk will be my end. I have to hit an area that cannot be regenerated before he dies, which is traditionally the heart or brain, but I cannot be sure he won't heal from that, oh well I will have to improvise.'

The man seemed to be frothing at the mouth as he grew angrier "Damn you, just die already!" The mad man threw back his head and screamed as three tomoe appeared on his forehead and his entire body turned purple and his eyes glowed white.

Menma stared at the transformation wide eyed 'This must be cursed seal level 2. I read about it in Orochimaru's notes, but seeing it in person is incredible, his power has increased by a factor of two, I will need to end this quickly. His power seems to be scaling along with his rage so therefore I have to use it against him.

The now purple man roared in rage and charged at him, thankfully with his muscle mass he had begun to slow down and that leaved Menma with an opening. Menma pulled a bunch of chakra in his arm and charged at the mad man yelling his attack name pointlessly "Point Jab: Heart!" He had learned this trick by copying Tsunade's one finger bit. By compressing all the chakra he could muster in his fingers, it would gain tremendous piercing power. The Second Raikage was famous for this technique with lightning chakra.

The two opposing forces slammed into each other and Menma's hand went straight through Orochimaru's experiments heart, completely obliterating it. Knowing that this may not be enough to end him he then channeled his toxins into his enemy's body "Poison release: Doku Kansen!" His arm turned sickly purple and the organs inside of his opponent's body were all infected and diseased. He pulled his hand out of his opponent with a sickening sound and fell backwards holding his side painfully, that last collision had dislocated his arm and maybe broken the femur in his leg.

Holding his hand to his leg, he lighted up his hand with a healing jutsu and healed most of the damage, then proceeded to re-insert his arm with a wince. That was always unpleasant. He sealed his opponent in a scroll to examine later, perhaps he could discover a way to remove the curse seal now that he had a person afflicted with it.

He jumped away to the site where the summoned animals recently disappeared.

(Clearing near Tanzuka Gai)

Menma entered the clearing to see Tsunade announcing that she would return to Konoha and proceed to beat the shit out of Orochimaru. He stood wide eyed as the infamous snake sannin got his ass handed to him via punching. He looked around the field to see Jiraiya on the large toad, Gamabunta he believed, and Shizune kneeling next to an uncontious Shio, he rushed over to help heal his sister.

Menma turned to Shizune while healing some of Shio's injuries "What happened, I was delayed by one of Orochimaru's henchmen."

Shizune glanced up and returned to her task while speaking "Tsunade came by herself to deal with Orochimaru, however she was discovered and Kabuto, who is over there wounded, used her fear of blood to take her out. Shio came along with Jiraiya. Shio defeated Kabuto but was wounded in the process. Jiraiya fought with Orochimaru along with Tsunade who came out of her fear of blood and defeated Orochimaru's summoned snake, Manda."

Menma nodded at this information and glanced at Orochimaru who disappeared along with his subordinate. He lowered his hands and canceled his jutsu, Shio was healed enough for her natural regenerative abilities to do the work.

He walked up to Tsunade and clicked the ground with his heel, causing it to shake a little "I win the bet."

Tsunade smirked at him and took off her necklace and placed it around Menma's neck "I doubted you there for a few minutes there gaki when I didn't see you first thing this morning, but since your sister already convinced me to return, I'll give you that necklace as payment."

Menma's eyes widened as he saw the necklace, it was the First Hokage's necklace. It was priceless! He was about to protest when Tsunade kissed him on the forehead "Don't bother arguing kid, you really impressed me with your skills, come talk to me if you want some tips on medical ninjutsu."

Menma stuttered a bit in the presence of his idol and nodded, blushing a bit.

Jiraiya laughed "Well gaki, looks like you impressed Tsunade here."

Tsunade growled and punched Jiraiya "shut up pervert."

Jiraiya cried a bit at the hit before turning to Menma "I assume Orochimaru sent one of his henchmen to you, he bragged that you were going to die to his experiment in the fight."

Menma nodded "Yes, the experiment was very powerful. It seemed that Orochimaru pumped a man full of steroids, gave him a curse seal level 2, and injected him with some of the Kyuubi's chakra. He was more beast than man and grew stronger as his rage increased."

Jiraiya nodded before he looked at Menma confused "Cursed seal level 2? I thought the cursed seal only has one stage."

Menma cursed his slip a bit "I studied the seal on Anko's shoulder for a while and it seems that there is a hidden level of power of the seal. Once the recipient has submitted to Orochimaru's will, the level will unlock and give the user more power, while simultaneously gaining more loyalty for Orochimaru."

Jiraiya nodded "We need to report this to the Hokage and start healing the wounded immediately, lets go."

Everyone except the still unconscious Shio nodded and Jiraiya hoisted the girl onto his back and they all disappeared.

(3 Days Later)(Konoha – Minato's Office)

Minato rubbed his forehead as he read the mission report. Why couldn't there be one normal mission for Menma or Shio. Why? It gave him so much paper work which was even harder with one hand!

Minato sighed and put down the document "I am increasing the importance of this mission to S-rank due to the confrontation with S ranked mission ninjas. You all will be paid appropriately." The Hokage sighed heavily "I can't believe you ran into Orochimaru, Itachi, and Kisame Hoshigaki."

Minato seemed to contemplate something a bit when Shio spoke up "Tou-san, who were those men in the black cloaks? Jiraiya refused to tell me."

Minato looked wearily at his daughter and began to explain "The Akatsuki is a newly formed group of S-ranked criminals. Their main motives are unclear but their main objectives seems to be the capture of the jinchuuriki. This includes Shio."

Shio gasped a bit and Menma narrowed his eyes in contemplation. Minato continued "I wanted you and Menma to go on this mission to try and avoid the eye of the Akatsuki for a while, it seemed I was wrong and they still managed to track you down."

Minato stood up "I will follow with you Tsunade to the hospital to extract the poison and re-attach my arm. The others still need your healing as well."

Tsunade nodded in affirmation.

(Konoha Hospital – Kakashi's Room)

Tsunade stood by Kakashi's bed with her hand glowing a light green over the cyclops' forehead. Eventually Kakashi opened his non-sharingan eye and blinked a bit. Tsunade told the jonin to get some rest and Minato said he would be by later to fill him in on the situation.

(Konoha Hospital – Sasuke's Room)

Tsunade once again held her glowing palm over Sasuke's forehead. Unlike Kakashi however the minute Sasuke opened his eyes he shot up in bead and clutched his head.

Shio tackle hugged the Uchiha "Sasuke! I was really worried about you! What were you thinking charging two S-ranked ninjas by yourself! If it wasn't for Menma chasing them off I don't know what they may have done!"

Sasuke's eye seemed to twitch a bit at his teammates' cheerfulness and twitched harder at hearing that Menma forced his brother to retreat, while he could not even touch his brother.

Menma sighed at Shio's tactlessness and turned to Tsunade "There is one more patient I hope you can look at after you heal the Hokage."

Tsunade nodded.

(Lee's Hospital Room)

Tsunade stood before the Shirtless Lee and whistled at the amount of damage "You really went through the grinder kid. The operation will be very difficult. About a 50 percent chance of death or full recovery."

Lee's eyes widened at this information. He looked down a bit and put his shirt back on "Can you give me time to go over it?"

Tsunade nodded with a sympathy in her eyes "Alright kid, I have to go heal the Hokage now, you should take a couple of days to go over the treatment."

Lee nodded eyes downcast and left the room before Menma could say anything.

Menma looked sadly at the retreating back of his teammate 'Lee…'

(One day Later, Hokage Monument)

Menma walked up the steps to the Hokage monument and saw the back of Lee standing on the Fourth Hokage's head looking at the sunset. He smiled a bit at the familiar scene and called out "I thought I would find you here."

Lee looked around startled "Oh, Menma, I did not see you approach."

Menma stood alongside Lee and stared at the sunset. Menma focused his thoughts on what he wanted to tell his teammate. He looked down and frowned, he barely knew his own path through life. What was he supposed to tell someone who was at a crossroads. One path led to a bright Shinobi future while the other led to Death. While the final option led to a life full of regret and longing. He had been inspired by Tsunade finding her path again and felt he was closer to his answer.

He decided to say what he felt in his heart "Lee…take the treatment."

Lee widened his eyes and stared at his teammate.

Menma continued "I know you, maybe not as much as Gai or Yakumo, but I know you. You don't quit and never look back and question your choices. You train harder than anyone in Konoha. Your will to live is so strong that the treatment will be a 100% success rate, not 50%. You won't die because you have us standing beside you, hoping you will live."

Lee was speechless and looked over his teammate's shoulder to see Anko-sensei, Yakumo, and Gai standing there smiling encouragingly. He blinked and the apparations disappeared and he cried a bit and nodded resolutely "I will take the treatment, I want to live, but I want to live for my dreams, not an empty life."

Menma nodded and smiled one of his few rare smiles "You can do it Lee."

Lee nodded, smiling determinedly.

(3 Days Later – Konoha Hospital)

Menma was standing in the waiting room of the Hospital, tense, alongside Yakumo, Gai, and Anko. They were all waiting for the results of the operation. Gai was praying to every deity he knew, Yakumo was biting her nails while Anko chewed on the same dango stick that she had eaten three hours ago.

Suddenly the light flashed from red to Green on the emergency room and everyone looked up and Tsunade walked out, exhausted but smiling "He will be fine."

Everyone outside the hospital thought that a bomb had gone off from the cheering.

 **AN2: And that's the 17** **th** **chapter. I hope everyone liked my battle with Orochimaru's experiment. I was inspired watching an AMV where it showed a blond kid fighting a rage mode guy with a red aura, I think it's from Hunter x Hunter (haven't watched it) and Mundo. Before anyone asks why he did not use any poisons or spiders in the fight: They would not even have slowed him down. With the guys super strength and regeneration poisons and spiders would have just been in the way.**


	18. Chapter 18: End of Halcyon Days

**AN** : **Greetings all. I am blown away by the many good responses this story has gotten. I want to thank everyone for this support and that I hope I live up to everyone's expectations. I am also sorry for the delay on this chapter, I have started another story and decided to update that one before this. Anyway ill answer a couple of questions and comments I saw in the reviews.**

 **Plums – I dislike how you expect something perfect from my story. I have very little experience writing and I am not going to make a perfect story like Canon. I decided not to have Menma participate in the battle among the sanin because it made sense. Orochimaru would not want to fight all of them at once so he would have sent a subordinate to distract or possibly kill Menma.**

 **KamiKoKanzen – I realize the story is a bit fast paced. However I have many ideas for fanfiction and don't want to spend the entire year writing this story. I am headed off to college this fall and want to make sure I finish this story before then. I hope to include all of the essential parts of the plot while also putting my own spins on them to make them interesting. As for the Nuibari, that is an excellent suggestion but I would have no idea how he would get it. Idk where Kabuto found it but it was never said where Kushimaru died in canon.**

 **Swordsmanwielder: I know hair techniques have many great representations throughout the animeverse. When I thought of the idea I had not realized there were so many versions of the technique. I am still trying to decide what style I will primarily use with it. He did not use his hair against Orochimaru's experiment because the battle was so fast paced he did not have time to activate his jutsu.**

 **Maelstrom of the Nine: Thank you for recognizing that there isn't enough League of Legend fanfiction on this site. All I see from LoL fanfiction is smut or champs go into the real world for very cheesy romances and badly thought out plotlines. I want to make a bunch of xovers and fanfictions that show the potential that LoL has for stories.**

 **Anyway time for the story!**

 **Chapter 18:**

 **End of the Halcyon Days**

(Konoha)(One week after Lee's surgery)

After the success of Lee's operation, team 9 and Gai held a large party for Lee the moment he woke up. It was there that they discovered never to let lee drink Sake again. Ever.

(Flashback)

They were celebrating at a sushi bar when Lee mistakenly grabbed Anko's sake instead of his water and took a sip. The lancer look alike suddenly froze and a blush grew on his face and it seemed like a whirlwind struck the restaurant. When Menma woke up he was buried slightly in rubble and rubbed his eyes in astonishment to see Lee passed out with five Jonin ninja around him, each knocked out.

(End Flashback)

Menma shivered at the memory, Lee and sake did not mix. At all.

He was walking away from Lee's room when he heard a smash in the room he was passing and opened the door to see his sister's teammate Sasuke and the Haruno girl. On the floor was a broken plate with cut apples scattered around it. He sighed a bit, he did not want to get caught up in this drama. He looked between the two genin and finally spoke "Whatever is going on here I don't want any part of it." He prepared to leave but Sasuke spoke first "Shio said that you forced Itachi to retreat, is this true?"

Menma once again cursed his sisters' loose mouth and spoke "I made him retreat because he was in a bad position due to allowing me to prepare and underestimating us. In a straight fight I would lose."

Sasuke glared and activated his Sharingan, which now had two tomoe in both eyes, "I want you to fight me."

Menma stared at the avenger in front of him and recognized the look in his eyes. He once had the same look every time he thought of his former family. He knew he owed it to his past self to try and help Sasuke in front of him. He nodded and both made their way to the roof, Sasuke never noticing he stepped on Sakura's carefully cut apples as he walked away.

Sakura stared mournfully at the back of her crush as he walked away. She had learned much from her time with Kurenai. She was going to be her official apprentice when she made chunin due to her talents with illusions. She had already learned enough to be consider a high genin by the time Kurenai had broken her from her fangirl tendencies. When she had heard that Sasuke was injured she knew she had to see him one more time clearly without the rose tinted glasses she used to wear with him. This last act of his had proven Kurenai right, that Sasuke was not worthy of her affections and that she should move on.

Once again she sighed and looked at the crushed apples, feeling her dreams of being with Sasuke represented perfectly by the mashed fruit.

(Hospital Rooftop)

Menma stood across from Sasuke and spoke "No serious ninjutsu, this is a hospital and I don't want to hurt anyone inside. Keep it to minor or nondestructive ninjutsu and taijutsu."

Sasuke nodded and took out his tanto and shunshined behind Menma preparing to attack him from behind when the blade was blocked by Menma's glowing hand and the black haired Uchiha was forced to bend backwards to avoid being backhanded by Menma. Sasuke stood up on a handstand and would have kicked Menma in the chin had he not leaned back and kicked the Uchiha in the back away from him.

Sasuke grunted at the force of the kick and ran through some handsigns and expelled a large fireball at the spider summoner.

Menma knew that Sasuke wanted him to jump over the fireball and attack him in the air but he wouldn't give him the chance. He used his hair to form a dome around him.

Sasuke saw the smoke erupt and jumped into the air to try and defeat Menma but was confused when he didn't see him anywhere. He began to think he had hit Menma with his fireball when black wires wrapped around him and formed a cocoon. The arrogant Uchiha scowled as Menma was revealed from his hair shield, completely unharmed from the fireball.

Sasuke expelled fire chakra around him and burned the threads away from him and summoned fire around his tanto and swung it many times, unleashing the flames at the spider summoner.

Menma responded to the slashes of flame by activating his chakra scalpel and swinging his hands down and called out "Chakra Scythes." By applying the same technique as Tsunade's super strength, he could release the chakra scalpel in his hand to make a scythe like blade that would fly at his enemies.

Sasuke jumped out of the way of the attack but was not prepared for Menma's hair to suddenly fire senbon like needles at him. The Uchiha quickly replaced himself with a very convenient log that was perfectly cut without a forest for miles.

Menma sighed as Sasuke pressed a kunai knife to his throat "You are still naïve, Sasuke."

Sasuke widened his eyes as he detected with his Sharingan a buildup of chakra in the clone. The clone lifted up one hand in a half ram sign and said calmly "Doku Kage Bushin Daibuhaka*."

The clone exploded in a large cloud of purple smoke that covered the roof of the hospital until it dispersed into a scroll by Menma. The spider summoner looked around the rooftop for the allusive Uchiha.

Sasuke burst from the ground below him, his hand crackling with fire as it pierced straight through Menma.

However the "Menma" that the Uchiha had stabbed ended up melting into purple sludge. Sasuke was careful to make sure none of it touched him as he jumped away. He glanced around until he spotted Menma sitting on the upper portion of the roof. He growled and was about to engage again when Menma spoke "You fell into my trap Sasuke." Menma pulled a wire next to him and the next second Sasuke was bound in metal wire that had been layered all around him throughout the course of the fight.

Sasuke growled but knew he was defeated. He could not channel fire chakra to burn away this wire because it would super heat and fuse to his skin.

Menma walked up to the bound genin "You lose, Sasuke." He started to walk away but stopped at the door of the roof "We used to have the same eyes you know. I held the desire for revenge so strong I would do anything to achieve it." He paused thinking of his next words "You need to decide whether or not your desire is for justice or vengeance. A person who seeks justice will have a fulfilled life and be able to work with his allies to defeat the person who wronged him. A person who seeks vengeance will allow it to eat at the person until they are nothing more but an empty shell, or a rabid dog. At the end of the day, the only thing you have left is your dignity, Sasuke. When you look your brother in the eye the next time you see him. Do you want to have the same eyes as him? So full of anger and sadness at the world that you no longer cared if it burned around you? Make sure you walk your own path in life, Sasuke. Because that will be the ultimate revenge against your brother."

He released the Uchiha from his threads and left the Hospital, hoping his words would prevent Sasuke from going down the road he had almost followed.

He walked down the street but stopped when Anko appeared next to him "Get your gear Gaki, Tsunade wants us for a simple C-ranked mission."

Menma nodded and left for his apartment.

(Hokage's Office)

Minato sat before the uninjured members of team 9 "Team 9, I need you to take this scroll to one of the outposts near the border of Mizu. I do not expect any complications. If there is, I am making you do the paperwork to whatever unnatural event occurred."

The three members of the team sweatdropped.

(Mizu Boarder outpost)

It had taken the members of team 9 an entire week to travel all the way to the outpost to deliver the scroll. Menma was a bit conflicted. On one hand there was no horrible event that occurred during their mission. However, he could not shake off the feeling that something was wrong.

(Konoha)

Sasuke was standing on a roof top thinking about his fight with Menma. It angered him to no end that a no name orphan could so easily defeat him. He felt like such a failure. He could not get rookie of the year unlike his brother. He could not pass the chunin exams the first time unlike his brother. He could not even put up a decent fight when he saw his brother for the first time in eight years.

However he could not help but think back to Menma's words 'You will become an empty shell, or a rabid dog. The only thing at the end of the day you have left is your dignity.' He knew that Itachi had stolen his dignity long ago. That man had stolen so much from him. His pride, his family, his love, and his childhood.

He no longer knew if he wanted Itachi dead for justice or vengeance. When he was a little he said to his parents graves he would get justice for their deaths. But now he did not know the boundary between vengeance and justice. All he knew is that he wanted Itachi dead. He also knew that Orochimaru would be able to give him the power to defeat his brother.

He slung his pack over his shoulder and left a note on his desk. He knew Shio would read it. He hoped she understood his reasoning. He would not lose himself to vengeance like Menma spoke of. He would control it and temper it until it was a spear that would be driven right into Itachi's heart. Because vengeance is justice. And he was the spear to meet that cold justice out.

He walked out of his house and shut the door with a final click.

(Konoha Forest – the next day)

They were on their third day heading back towards the village when a message hawk intercepted them. The bird had a Konoha headband tied to its back and the scroll attached was black. Black usually signified very dangerous and critical missions to the leaf village.

Anko opened it and read out loud:

 **Mission Rank: S**

 **Objective: Back up the Konoha team sent to retrieve Sasuke Uchiha who went missing yesterday night. Genin Sakura Haruno spotted the Uchiha walking out of the village. It is assumed that the Uchiha went rogue. Team 9 is to back up the team sent to retrieve the Uchiha immediately. It is estimated that the Uchiha is being escorted by some of Orochimaru's top soldiers.**

Anko looked seriously at her team and they all nodded and disappeared in shunshins.

(Konoha Forest)

(Kiba vs Sakon)

Kiba panted as he snuck through the water to get away from his opponent. Nothing he could do affected the twins. If one was defeated the other took control and healed the other. Akamaru was injured and he had very little chakra left.

He sneaked out of the pond but froze when he smelled the presence of his enemy behind him. He looked around in horror but before the combined twins could attack they were stopped by a puppet in a black cloak.

A voice called out from the surrounding forest "Well well, look who the cat dragged in. An illegal sound ninja. Seems I came in the nick of time eh Konoha nin?"

Kankuro appeared with two puppets hovering around him.

(Neji vs Kidomaru)

Neji panted as he prepared for the final strike by Kidomaro but was shocked when all of the giant mosquitos around him were eaten by snakes and Anko appeared with two overly long Kunai, grinning savagely "The sexy and single snake mistress of Konoha has arrived!"

(Choji vs Jirobu)

Choji opened the container to his red pill, but before he could swallow it he was stopped by a delicate hand and Yakumo appeared in a storm of black sakura petals "There is no need for that Choji, we can take him together without your enhancements."

(Shikamaru vs Tayuya)

Shikamaru hid behind a tree breathing heavily, he knew he stood no chance against this girl. Before he could give up hope a strong gust of wind prevented the sound waves from reaching the lazy genin. Temari appeared "Well if it isn't the guy who surrendered to a girl. Still think our gender is too troublesome?"

Shikamaru smirked a bit at his help and knew they had the advantage.

(Rock Lee vs Kimimaro)

Lee knew he was in trouble, Kimimaro completely countered his fighting style. The Kaguya was completely undefeatable in taijutsu and could deflect any of his attacks. He gritted his teeth and prepaired for the end when a wall of sand protected him from the Kaguya's attack while chakra strings pulled him away from the conflict.

Lee looked around and was stunned to see Gaara and Menma standing there in front of him. Both looking cool and collected.

Gaara stared at the enemy "Being a ninja of Sound is illegal. I will help the leaf as a member of the redeemed Sand."

Menma stepped forward besides the red haired jinchuuriki "I will protect my teammate, either surrender or face death. It's your choice."

Kimimaro stared at his two new opponents apathetically and extended two new swords from his wrists "This mission was ordered by Lord Orochimaru, you will not interfere."

All of the opponents were lined up and the Konoha Ninja were about to make a comeback against the Sound Five.

(Valley of the End)

Naruko rushed forward to the two statues of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha. She could not believe Sasuke would do this. Why would he just go and abandon his friends, his life, even his teammates all for revenge?

She knew she could never understand her teammate. She had lived a privileged life and never desired revenge on anyone. How could she understand someone who lost his entire family in one night and had to live knowing that the murderer was still at large? She could not even begin to think of the feeling.

However, despite not understanding him she knew that Sasuke could not go to Orochimaru. It was not the correct path to get revenge against Itachi. Orochimaru would just use Sasuke and then take his body!

She jumped up the statue of Hashirama and landed on the stone head and shouted over the sound of the waterfall to the figure of Sasuke standing on the head of Madara Uchiha "Sasuke!"

Sasuke stopped walking and slowly turned around.

Shio could not contain the gasp that left her lips on seeing what Sasuke had become. The left side of his face seemed to be glowing with a greenish energy. His left pupil had the Sharingan activated. However instead of the normal red and black it was now white and green. In addition, instead of three commas the symbol was now three crossing spears.

Sasuke stared at his former teammate. He cursed the fact that she had caught up to him. She was too innocent to get caught up in his life. He was a monster in human skin while she was innocent despite her profession. He knew he would have to cut all ties with the blond chunin here and now. He could not afford to have her in his life.

No monster could ever be loved or love another.

Sasuke smirked darkly at Shio " **Yo**." His voice had taken a multi layered tone. He had found a new way to awaken the Mangekyou Sharingan by accident. By accepting the spirit of vengeance inside of him. He bonded with the spirit of Kalista and had become the symbol of vengeance.

Shio scowled at Sasuke's nonchalance at the situation. He was turning into a monster and seemed utterly unconcerned with the fact. She scowled and shouted across the valley once again "Sasuke! Come back to Konoha. Do you not realize that Orochimaru only wants you to take your body?! After he is done with you he will just throw you away!"

Sasuke kept his cool look on his face and responded " **I don't care. Orochimaru has given me this power and it will eventually grow enough to be stronger than Itachi. The souls of the people he betrayed cry out in anger and wish for his head."**

Shio frowned "What are you talking about Sasuke? The spirits of your family are gone! How could they wish for his death?"

Sasuke chuckled again " **No, they are not gone. They are all around me, crying out in pain as their betrayer still walks this earth."** An ethereal spear formed in Sasuke's hand " **I have become the spirit of vengeance. You will not stop me Uzumaki."**

Shio shed a tear and unsealed her nodochi and wind began to pick up around her and seemed to play a tune. It was a sorrowful melody as if mourning for the fight between the two former teammates.

Soon Sasuke jumped forward, his spear blazing and Shio streaked forward to meet his attack, wind howling in preparation from the clash of titans ahead.

The fight between Vengeance and Innocence had begun.

It was the end of the halcyon days of Konoha.

 **AN2: Greetings everyone! I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. It is a bit shorter than most of my other chapters but I wanted to save all of the fights for next chapter and deal with most of the angst and build up this chapter. I based Sasuke's mangekyou after Kalista from LoL. As most of you know by now is that I draw most of my inspiration from League of Legends (Which I don't own). I just feel that Kalista fits Sasuke to a T and I hope everyone agrees with me. Anyway if you have any comments or recommendations then please let me know in the reviews. Thank you!**


	19. Chapter 19: Battle of the Crossroads

**AN: Greetings everyone. I am sorry for the delay on this chapter. I have been thinking and reviewing what I want to do for shippuden. I also wish to say I'm sorry for mixing up Naruko with Shio in the last chapter. Btw I have a question for more experienced writers. Should I make this story an xover with LoL since im taking a lot of influence from the game? Anyway ill answer some questions from the comments.**

 **CrimsonDragonKnight: Yes, you are correct. I love Naruto's canon and I wish to honor it for my first naruto fanfiction. Most of this story will follow the canon up until mid shippuden.**

 **Megaplayer49: Yes, there is a pairing as iv stated in earlier chapters. The pairing is Shio x Naruto/Menma. However I am not putting much focus on it. The pairing will build until the last Naruto move.**

 **GeassDragon: Yes, the Kalista thing was a spontaneous decision. However my plotline is preplanned. I do not see why you are complaining about the plot.**

 **Gunreal: Yes, there will be a timeskip. There will be a few flashbacks but I am not planning on writing chapters for three full years.**

 **Guest: Itachi makes everyone look weak. Sasuke is around the same skill level as Shio. He appeared unskilled to Gaara and Itachi because they were horrible matchups for him. The Spirit of vengeance is not op at all. Compared to his Canon mangekyou its actually weaker. I gave him the vengeance aspect to keep him as strong as Naruto and Shio. His fire manipulation while good, could not compare to the others. Before getting overly critical of my work, please try to think of whats op and whats not. If I gave him all the powers of the mangekyou I would agree with you.**

 **Chapter 19:**

 **Battle of the Crossroads**

(Kiba x Kankuro vs Sakon)

Kiba looked shocked as Kankuro appeared just in time to save him from the sound nins assault. Kiba recognized the guy from the chunin exams "What are you doing here?"

Kankuro smirked "I am here to save you idiot. The ninja of the sand have allied with the leaf. We were in the area and decided to help out."

Sakon scowled at the puppet Shinobi "It dosnt matter how many of you come, the result will still be the same." Sakon rushed forward at great speed and grasped his hand on Kankuro's shoulder, however his cell merging technique was not working "What the hell?"

Kankuro poofed into smoke and turned into a puppet with a large barrel chest. The puppet swallowed Sakon whole and Kankuro revealed himself to be one of the other puppets "Now your done. Secret puppet black art: Iron Maiden." The crow puppet detached and each part revealed a blade which was sent through small holes in the capture puppet. All was silent as blood seeped through the holes of the wooden weapon.

Kiba sighed and sat down heavily "Thanks."

Kankuro glanced at him "No problem, let's get you out of here."

(Neji x Anko vs Kidomaru)

Neji gaped at team 9's sensei killing all of the mosquito summons he had been trying to defeat in just a few seconds. The mosquitos were able to drain his chakra and blood which left him drained after each attempt to defeat them. Anko stood their grinning cockily as she faced off against the mosquito summoner.

Kidomaru was furious "You…killed my insects."

Anko smirked again "Awww did I kill your wee little friends?" However Anko suddenly turned very serious "Just like Orochimaru did to me." With those words Anko relentlessly attacked Kidomaru, not giving him any quarter for a counter attack. Kidomaru could not even perform jutsu as he dodged the relentless snake style taijutsu and kunai combination.

Kidomaru began to run away, knowing he was outclassed. However Anko just stood there and smirked at the running sound ninja "Its already too late, your marked for death."

On the back of Kidomaru was a seal that glowed red and Kidomaru suddenly had a kunai directly through his heart. What not a lot of people know is that Anko is actually a journeyman in sealing. After she received the curse mark she trained for years to try and remove her curse. Over time when she could not find a counter seal, she decided to dabble into the more combat aspect of fuinjutsu. Using this she came up with the death seal. A simple storage seal that releases a weapon directly into the opponent's heart. By using this seal, if Anko touches her opponent once, the person dies.

Anko jumped down and scooped up the downed Hyuga "Alright, lets get out of here."

Neji sighed and nodded. However Anko suddenly turned to him with a scary face "If you tell anyone about my seal I will make you wish you were dead."

Neji started sweating and nodded rapidly.

(Choji x Yakumo vs Jirobu)

Jirobu started to laugh at what he thought was a weak genin girl "Hahahha! What can a frail and wimpy girl like you do to me, eh?"

Yakumo smiled "I do not have to do anything. You were dead the moment I landed on the field."

Jirobu glared "Hmph, don't try to act tough girly. You havn't done anything as far as I am conce-" He stopped suddenly as he spat out blood "W-what?"

Yakumo smirked and released the genjutsu, dissolving into black lotus blossoms and appearing behind Jirobu "The minute I entered this field you were already in my genjutsu. Now die for harming my comrades." She ran through handsigns and forced visions of many horrors upon Jirobu, rendering him into a vegetable state, all with a smile on her face.

Choji shuddered as he saw her smiling face. What Yakumo did not know is that she had earned a nickname in Konoha from her genjutsu and always sunny personality. The Smiling Sadist.

Yakumo turned to Choji with a brilliant smile "Well, shall we go Choji?"

Choji gulped and nodded in fear.

(Shikamaru x Temari vs Tayuya)

Temari blasted another sound genjutsu away with her fan and turned to Shikamaru "Oi, lazy brains what is this girl's skillset?"

Shikamaru ignored the insult and responded "She can send genjutsu through that flute of hers. She can also summon Oni demons to help fight for her."

Temari nodded "I see, well then I will just prevent her from doing anything then." She raised her fan and fully extended it and wipped blood across the three moons "Weasle Sickle Wind Cutting jutsu!" She unleased her weasel summoning contract and combined it with her wind. Cutting down every tree in a cone in front of her, crushing Tayuya underneath.

Shikamaru deadpanned at the scene 'So violent.'

Temari smirked at her handy work "Alright, let's meet up with the others lazy bones."

Shikamaru sighed "Troublesome."

(Gaara x Menma vs Kimimaro)

Gaara and Menma stood before the bone manipulator. Both sides preparing for the inevitable confrontation. Lee spoke seriously to his two rescuers "Be careful, he is able to manipulate his bones and use them to attack and defend."

Menma nodded and inwardly thought of Inari's mention of the Kaguya family that was descended from the Sage's brother. He had researched the four clans that Inari had mentioned and learned that the Kaguya clan had been wiped out in the bloodline purge of Kiri. It seemed that one escaped the purge.

He glanced at Gaara. Their abilities did not combine well at all. Gaara primarily focused on defense and letting his opponent wear him or herself out. He primarily focused on ending the fight before it began, and if that failed going for one hit kills. However he was sure they could win. He had to win this fight. He spoke to Gaara "Shield and sword?"

Gaara nodded, understanding. Menma applied that Gaara would focus only on defense while Menma would focus on attacking.

Menma activated his chakra scalpels and dashed towards Kimimaro. The bone user responded by thrusting his sword forward, however before he could skewer Menma, sand deflected the attack and the spider summoner pressed his hand into a palm thrust against Kimimaro's chest and chakra blasted the bone user's internal organs and propelled Kimimaro away.

Menma looked at the prone figure of the Kaguya "He should be dead, very few can survive their internal organs being attacked."

However sand pushed him aside as a bone spike erupted from the earth and Kimimaro stood up from his place on the ground. Menma wanted to gape at the bone user, how could he possibly have survived that strike. He knew his take on Tsunade's super strength technique was more internal and external like Tsunade. He ruptured the internal organs by turning the vibrations of normal palm strikes into sound waves.

In order to survive this Kimimaro must have completely reworked his bone structure to create a dense layer underneath his skin to block the sound waves. The chakra cost must have been enormous, not to mention the risk to his health. Bones create blood for the body, if he creates more blood than normal he is risked to blood related diseases due to how much red blood cells in his body versus white blood cells. Any serious illness could become terminal with that much blood. If he wasn't seriously sick already, he removed many years from his lifetime.

Kimimaro removed bones from his shoulders and dashed forward again at Menma, dodging sand around him as he streaked towards the medic. When he got close to Menma, the spider summoner spun around the thrust and unsealed a syringe and struck it at stuck it in the Kaguya's neck. The needle barely pierced the skin but released the contents of the syringe anyway.

The battle continued and Menma continued to inject the Kaguya with the mixture with every chance he received. Gaara saved him from many attacks that the sound nin attempted while the spider summoner continued his plan.

Menma jumped away and flashed through handseals until he bit his thumb "Summoning Jutsu!" Four spiders appeared and attacked the Kaguya. When Kimimaro tried to skewer the Spiders with his bones they jumped away in split seconds.

The medic jumped to Gaara's side and explained his plan "He has covered his entire with bones, making him almost impenetrable. However his weakness also lies in his defense. He has derastically increased his chance for disease. I injected him with a blood strengthening mixture and a medicine to increase blood flow. The syringe I injected him with I covered in enough chakra to pierce his outer bone and enter his blood stream. We only have to delay him and let the diseases already in his body begin to react to his increased blood flow. Those spiders I summoned are known as Sprinter spiders, they are infamous for their dodging ability. They will give us time, distract him with your sand and we can only hope there are diseases in his body. Otherwise we will have to take drastic action to break through his bone structure."

Gaara nodded and his sand began to bombard the Kaguya and distract him even further from the attacking spiders. Soon Kimimaro began to breath heavier and slowed down, allowing some sand to bash into him and spiders to bite him, injuring him further.

Menma waited a bit more and rushed forward and once again hit the bone wielder with a palm thrust and managed to weaken him enough for the disease to fully take hold. Kimimaro spat out blood and began to drive heave as his lungs gave out on him. However Gaara was forced to raise all three ninja into the air as Kimimaro unleashed his final attack, an entire bone forest erupted in the clearing, skewering anything in its path. After the attack died down the two leaf and one sand nin sat on the sand observing the bone structures around them. Menma spoke up after a while "It's sad that a once proud clan ended on an inglorious battlefield like this. Nothing more than a distraction so Sasuke can get away."

Gaara nodded and looked above as dark clouds began to cover the sun "All we can do is hope Shio wins. It is up to her now."

The other two genin nodded and looked in the direction of the Valley of the End.

(Valley of the End)

The green aura around Sasuke intensified and an ethereal spear appeared in Sasuke's hands. He remembered when he gained this power during the night he decided on his path of dark justice.

(Flashback)

Sasuke declared to himself "Even if I walk the path of darkness I will achieve my vengeance." Upon these words his left Sharingan activated on its own and began to emit a green glow and shifted forms to three intercrossing lances and he clutched his eye in pain. He blacked out and saw darkness all around him.

He looked around frantically as a green mist surrounded him. Soon a figure emerged from the mist and approached the Uchiha. The figure was a woman clad in old clan era armor. She had long black hair tied in a ponytail and her skin emitted a green glow. She stopped in front of him and spoke in a multi-layered voice " **Greetings young Uchiha. I am Kalista Uchiha, your ancestor. I was once the proud leader of the Uchiha clan. Before that bastard Madara Uchiha stole the title from me. He stabbed me in the back during a mission to gain my title and erased me from the clan's history."**

Sasuke's eyes widened, this was the spirit of his ancestor. And if he heard her words correctly she was once stronger than Madara Uchiha, the strongest Uchiha ever recorded.

Kalista continued " **During my betrayal, my Sharingan evolved and I developed a new technique. Kagutsuchi. This technique bound me to the aspect of Vengeance. For a century I have hunted betrayers, ending their existence. However, the one who I wish the most has escaped me for just as long. Madara Uchiha has still escaped my hunt.**

Sasuke widened his eyes, Madara Uchiha lived 100 years ago. How was he still alive? Especially after the Battle against Hashirama?

Kalista continued her explanation to the genin " **However, recently I have detected Madara's movement. He is moving through the Akatsuki. He knows of me, and hides from my vision. So he moves through others instead of himself. I have decided that I need to draw him out. My method, will be you."**

Sasuke widened his eyes at this statement "Why me?"

The embodiment of vengeance chuckled darkly " **Your entire life revolves around Betrayal. Your path will force you to end many betrayers. My power, as well as yours, will grow stronger with the death of every betrayal. The death of Itachi Uchiha and Orochimaru will empower me enough to kill Madara once we draw him out.**

Sasuke was confused "Orochimaru? I was going to go to him to learn from him, not kill him."

Kalista chuckled again " **Yes, what better opening to kill him? You shall learn everything you can from him, then kill the betrayer of hundreds."**

Sasuke nodded in agreement, he was not planning on being the lapdog of Orochimaru forever anyway "How will I gain the power of Kagutsuchi?"

The glowing women explained " **I will put a small piece of my power within you, this will replace the soul within your curse seal. Upon activating the seal, instead of using Orochimaru's power, you will use my power."**

Sasuke nodded, it sounded like an excellent agreement, but he knew nothing ever came free "What is the catch?"

Kalista smirked at the last Uchiha " **Ah yes, as they say in this time, the catch. Once Madara is dead. You will take my place as the aspect of Vengeance."**

Sasuke widened his eyes "What? How is that a bad thing?"

Kalista scowled at his naivety " **I have spent an entire century hunting the scum of the earth. It is a thankless job. A loveless job. If you accept his deal, you will never know the warmth of another human. You will remain forever friendless, forever alone. If you seek the ultimate justice. You must become just as bad a monster as the people you are hunting. Are you prepared, to make this sacrifice? To sacrifice yourself for the good of the world?"**

Sasuke pondered this information. He had stated that one of his goals would be to have a family and respawn the Uchiha clan. However, this may be his only opportunity to achieve his goals. He thought of Shio. He may have loved her eventually, and she may have loved him in return. But he knew his path. The path of a monster.

He nodded.

Kalista smirked and took out a spear from her chest and stabbed Sasuke in the chest " **Then you shall be reborn, with the cold blade of Dark Justice!"**

(End Flashback)

His green aura intensified and his spear grew brightly as he yelled at Shio from across the valley " **You will not stop me Shio, my path has been set and so has my fate. I will walk this path whether you try and stop me or not!"** He met Shio's sword in the middle of the waterfall and they began an aerial battle of spear vs nodochi. They continued to fall down the waterfall while still battling with their chosen weapons until they were forced to separate and prepare for landing on the water below.

Shio used her wind manipulation to slow her fall and land gracefully on the water while Sasuke jumped from rock to rock to slow his fall and splash down roughly on the water.

Shio flashed through handsigns and called out "Cutting Breakthrough!" She unleashed a cutting gale of wind that slammed into the avenger and picked up a dust cloud when the blades of wind cut into the cliff behind him.

Shio waited a bit but was forced to dodge three ethereal spears that emerged from the cloud and Sasuke emerged, unharmed from the wind attack. The spears continued until they exploded with a bright flash when they made contact with some trees, completely eradicating where they struck.

The Uzumaki frowned as she stared at her former teammate. Was this how Naruto felt when he was abandoned? Complete betrayal of one's trust? She had loved him, not as a lover, but as a brother. And he spat upon that love and betrayed them all. Now he was trying to kill her. She continued to shed tears but furiously wiped them away, it wouldn't do for her eyes to get blurry in this fight.

Sasuke flashed through some handseals and called out in his multilayered tone " **Great Fireball Jutsu!"** instead of the regular red flames, the fire now burned with a green tint.

Shio channeled wind chakra into her sword and dashed forward, appearing behind the fireball as it was cut in two. She continued to dash forward and struck Sasuke with her Nodochi in a thrust. The Uchiha deflected the attack with effort. Any normal spear would have long been cut in two but Sasuke's spear held against the blond chunin's onslaught. He knew that the most dangerous aspect of Shio's sword style was not the sharpness of her sword enhanced by wind chakra, but rather that she can shift the length of her sword. In the midst of combat an unwary opponent would be defeated simply by the shifting length.

However, he had been Shio's teammate for a year, he knew all of her tricks. However she did not know any of the tricks of his new power. He readied one of his spears and through it at Shio.

Shio dodged to the side but Sasuke quickly put his hands in a snake sign and the spear exploded, sending Shio back in pain from the explosion.

However the Uzumaki recovered and swung her sword at the Uchiha, sending the cutting wind at the Uchiha. Sasuke responded by swinging his spear in a twirling motion, sending cuts of translucent green fire at the waves of wind.

It was proof of the green fire's strength that the fire overpowered the wind and slammed into the shocked genin, once again sending Shio flying and burnt from the attack.

Sasuke raised his spear again and charged forward to attack the still down Uzumaki, however as he approached he had to suddenly stop and jump away as a cyclone of wind and water surrounded the Uzumaki. When the water dispersed she was holding the weirdest sword Sasuke had ever seen. In the center appeared to be a stable rasengan, with four blades of chakra surrounding it on four sides. A clone that was near Shio glared at Sasuke before dispersing.

Sasuke looked at the sword made out of chakra " **What is this technique?"**

Shio glared fiercly at Sasuke and held her new sword in front of her and spoke calmly "The culmination of all my wind and chakra manipulation. The pinnacle of chakra manipulation, Zelos!"

She levitated the sword with her palms and darted forward at fast speeds, using wind manipulation to remove the wind pressure and tunnel vision.

Sasuke could barely keep up with the unique chakra sword. Shio could wield it like a traditional sword, but also split it into four swords at any point in the battle, constantly harassing the Uchiha. If Sasuke had not had his Sharingan he would have been defeated.

He jumped away from Shio while throwing lances and panted a bit. He was no match for Shio in close combat and he knew he could not defeat her endurance. He had to end this in a single shot. He began pouring his power into the spear he held and the aura around him diminished until it was all contained in his right arm. The spear in his hand glowed brightly from the power within it.

Shio stared hard at her teammate "Ending it in one shot yet again eh Sasuke? I guess I will take that game against you!" She channeled more wind chakra into the rasengan in her hand that contained the swords. The wind chakra made the four blades around the sphere to start to spin around in a circle, creating a spiraling saw blade.

Sasuke dashed at Shio, determined to end this while Shio also jumped forward with her now shuriken like rasengan.

They met at the center of the valley of the end in a clash of green fire and wind. Each screaming their technique in the heat of battle.

" **Arc of Vengeance!"**

"Zelos Rasengan!"

The conflicting attacks caused a large explosion that could be seen for miles. Shio imagined herself just simply hovering before her teammate who she considered a brother. She contemplated how little she actually knew of her friend. She knew nothing of hatred or vengeance. She had no idea what it was life to have a family suddenly ripped away from you. She remembered when she was in a similar situation like this with her brother. Both using their final attacks in their battle that seemed so long ago. She didn't understand him then either. What right did she have to try and decide his life if she could not even look her brother in the eye without guilt?

She released a single tear as she smiled at her glowing teammate and shifted her attack a bit and was overwhelmed by the power of Sasuke's attack, only managing to scratch the leaf symbol on his forehead.

When the attack died down Sasuke stood over his downed teammate. She was still alive, the Uzumaki constitution and jinchurriki life force meant that she could take a lot of punishment. However he felt no pleasure at his victory. Yes, he had defeated the rookie of the year. But in that final clash he saw with his Sharingan her final act of letting him win. He turned and left, knowing the next time they met he would get a more conclusive answer to who was stronger between them.

As he exited from the Valley of the end he looked behind him and imagined all his friends and teammates back in Konoha, all smiling kindly at him. He then imagined them frowning and glaring at him for his actions. He hardened his heart and walked on.

To the lair of the snake.

It was far too late for regrets now.

(Back in the Valley of the End)

Kakashi stood over his fallen genin and shed a tear as he picked her up on his back "I was too late again, eh Obito?"

Pakkun who had led Kakashi here turned to the white haired jonin "I can't pick up the trail, the rain has dispersed his scent."

Kakashi nodded, as an experienced tracker he knew this but it was still devastating to hear "Lets return then, the mission has failed. Sasuke has gone to Orochimaru."

 **AN2: Aaaand done. Finally. Sorry for the long delay on this chapter guys, took me awhile to write it. One more chapter to go until Shippuden. It may be a bit shorter than others due to not a lot of critical content, but I should get it out twice as fast. Probably by tomarrow. I changed the canon a bit and Madara killed Kalista, not his father for the leadership of the Uchiha. I hope I did the Valley of the End battle justice. If I did not I am sure I will hear how much I messed up by my lovely readers. Lol. Anyway ty for all of your support. And so no one comes down in wrathful vengeance on me, I do not own League of Legends or Naruto. If I did I would not be here writing this fanfiction.**


	20. Chapter 20: Paths Diverge

**AN: Greetings everyone, time for the 20** **th** **chapter of my story. This is the final chapter of the first season of Naruto. I am surprised I managed to make it this far :D. It took me a bit to decide what changes and such I wanted to do to Shippuden due to the different plotlines from pre shippuden. Anyway ill answer some of the questions and comments I saw in the reviews:**

 **.12: I do not see how my characters are over powered. I have seen many fanfictions where they are even stronger earlier than mine. Their abilities are simple techniques that are used in the naruto universe that are enhanced. All of Menmas and Shio's abilities are feasible in the elemental nations.**

 **Sagar Hussain: Yeah…that was a on the spot decision that sounded better in my head. I tried to give Sasuke a move that was similar to the Chidori in a way…but I couldn't think of a name for it :/**

 **Look what Jesus did: Shio is pretty injured. However Sasuke was never fighting to kill per say. He wanted to injure Shio enough to prevent her from chasing after him.**

 **Azrael Akuma: Most of the big canon fights Menma will fight. However this fight was very impactful for Shio more than Menma.**

 **Anyway time for the story!**

 **Chapter 20:**

 **Diverging Paths**

(Konoha Hospital)(4 days after the Rescue Sasuke mission failed)

Sunlight streamed into the hospital room, illuminating the sleeping face of a heavily bandaged Shio. When the sunlight hit her face she stirred a bit and slowly opened her eyes, blinking the sleep out of them. She slowly sat up and wondered why she was in a hospital. She looked around the room and saw a slashed headband on her bedside table and remembered the events at the valley of the end and hung her head sadly.

A nurse entered and noticed she was awake and smiled kindly "Good morning Namikaze-san. You have been asleep for four days. I will go get you something to eat and inform he doctor."

Shio nodded as the nurse bustled off to do her duties and the Uzumaki silently contemplated the future. She knew she could never understand her teammate's feelings, but she knew that Orochimaru was not the correct path to follow. Every fiber of her being wanted to rush out there and bring him back and try to find out how to understand him better. But she knew she was no match for Orochimaru.

Eventually she had a routine checkup with the doctor and he explained that she was steadily recovering, much faster than any normal patient, and would be able to leave in two days. When the doctor left she sighed and began to eat her breakfast. However she was distracted when she heard a large thump outside the window and looked out to see her godfather Jiraiya sitting there on a giant toad. Jiraiya waves and grins "Hey gaki!"

Shio grins "Pervy Sage!" Jiraiya comically falls over on his toad after hearing the nickname Shio has been calling him since childhood.

Jiraiya sighed and decided to get the point "I talked to your parents while you were unconscious and they have agreed for me to take you on a three year training trip."

Shio widened her eyes, the longest she had been out of the village was a couple of weeks for a mission, but three whole year? She looked at Jiraiya seriously "Why do we need to train outside of the village? Couldn't we just train inside the village?"

Jiraiya nodded at the point and spoke "I need to maintain my spy network and I can't do that while staying in the village."

Shio nodded and remembered the glowing green face of Sasuke and clenched her hands "Alright, ill go."

Jiraiya noticed her clenching hands and commented "You know, you can't Sasuke back, he chose his path."

Shio looked down "I don't want to bring him back."

Jiraiya looked at Shio surprised "You don't?"

Shio shook her head and looked up "I wish for him to be happy. I havn't told anyone, but I can sense emotions. And every time I looked at Sasuke I saw him always drowning in misery and depression. However, the only time I saw him without sadness was when he left the village, he was full of resolve and a desire for vengeance that it was scary."

Jiraiya looked surprised at this information "Feeling emotions is not an unrecorded skill, the last time it showed was in the First Hokage's wife, Mito Uzumaki, who was also the jinchurriki for the nine tailed demon fox."

He looked out over the village, thinking of the past with Orochimaru "Sometimes, some ninja just can't stand to be "chained down" as they call it in a village. Orochimaru was also one of these people. You should just give up bringing Sasuke back to the village."

Shio shook her head "I won't give up, if I meet him again ill try and convince him, but not until I find a way to understand him."

Jiraiya nodded and left, but before he called over his shoulder "Meet me at the Konoha gates when you are fully healed."

Shio sighed and kept looking out at the village, pondering the future. She was interrupted two hours later when the door opened and Menma entered, carrying some flowers. The spider summoner put the flowers in a vase beside the bed and sat down in a seat, and glanced at his former sister and coughed awkwardly "I hope you are healing well."

Shio smiled at her brother, feeling his confused, but fond feelings for her, much improved since the confused and sad emotions he had been feeling for her for so long "I am healing well, thank you."

Menma looked out the window and pondered what to say, he had come here because he had heard his sister had woken up, but he was not sure what to say now that he was here. He had spent a long time hating his sister, but now he felt affection for her. Her sunny personality made it nearly impossible to hate her.

He looked at his sister's face and spoke "I am sorry about your teammate."

Shio's face fell at these words and he winced, he was not used to much social interaction and did not mean to bring up a bad topic.

His sister sighed "He made his choice and I will respect it, however I will understand him, and when I do I can stand in front of him as an equal and we will fight again. And when I win, we can return together."

Menma stared at his sister and frowned, Sasuke and Shio were the two most opposite people he had ever met. It always amazed him how well they got along. He breathed deeply and spoke "Sasuke lost everyone he knows and walks blindly through the darkness to find the source of his pain, in this case his brother. You who have never known significant loss would be able to understand that pain."

Shio looked down in sadness but Menma was not finished "However, that does not matter."

The blond Uzumaki looked at him in confusion but Menma was looking away, thinking of his teammates and sensei "even if you cannot understand him, you can still empathize with him. No one can share every single bad experience in our lives to understand each other. If you empathize with him, you will be able to understand him, without experiencing the same horrors as him."

His former sister looked down in contemplation and he stood up, more resolved after speaking with his sister than ever and opened the door and spoke to her behind him "Don't forget yourself while chasing after him Shio."

He left the room and strode to the chief medic's office with a purpose. He opened the door and saw Tsunade standing by a large window, looking out over Konoha.

Tsunade turned to him slightly and smiled "I figured you would come here when you heard Jiraiya was bringing Shio on the training trip."

Menma nodded and bowed, his head facing the ground as he made his request "Please Tsunade-sama, train me to be a full fledged medic-nin!"

Tsunade looked at the chunin before picking up his record "It says here you are a prodigy in the more combat oriented fields of medical ninjutsu. However, your knowledge of the healing aspect of it is woefully ignored. It seems when you learned medical ninjutsu you decided to only use it to damage and hurt people. This goes against many of the codes for medic-nins."

Menma winced, when he was training as a child he learned the mystic palm jutsu only and quickly went on to the more combat oriented sections of medical chakra, wanting to get an edge over his sister. However, he knew better now and spoke seriously "When I was abandoned by my family I wanted an edge over my sister and used medical ninjutsu to do it. However I no longer hold hatred for my family in my heart and I wish to learn the true art of medicine. I no longer wish to kill my enemies, but to heal my allies. I want to be able to heal my teammates if anything similar happens to Lee or anyone else again!"

Tsunade smirked "Good answer brat. I will apply you as my official apprentice, allowing you not to take missions until I say so. Since you already know the basics of the healing principles of medical ninjutsu, I will train you for the next two years in all the advanced medical techniques. Surgery, bone mending, nerve fixing, mental help, all the difficult techniques."

Menma nodded seriously and asked "What about the final year Shio will be training with Jiraiya?"

The slug sannin spoke as if it was obvious "You will train on your own for that year, you seem to improve better when left to your own devices and im sure there are more secrets left to master with your summons."

Menma widened his eyes at hearing this, Arachne said it would take a year or more to learn many of the advanced spider summoning abilities. This was a perfect opportunity to learn them. He bowed deeply again to his new sensei "Thank you for this opportunity sensei! I will not let you down!"

Tsunade smirked "I know you won't gaki, now get going, I have a lot of paperwork to get done."

Naruto nodded and left, feeling happy he had finally chosen a path in life, the path of a healer. He remembered all of the injuries he could not heal. He would never be so helpless again and would become one of the best healers in the elemental nations. He knew he could do it.

He was the forgotten son of the Namikaze and Uzumaki lines.

He was the Forgotten Doctor.

(Gai Dojo)

Lee walked into the Gai family dojo and looked at his sensei he had been apprenticed to and prepared for the next three years of training.

Gai, serious for once, stared at Lee critically "Lee, are you ready to learn the true secrets of the Strong Fist fighting style?"

Lee nodded seriously "I am ready Gai-Sensei!"

Flames seem to burn around Gai as he spoke "Then prepare for hell in my training! Your body will be pushed to the limit! Your brain will be fatigued! But if your spirit diminishes you will fail this training! Let the fire of youth consume you and let us begin!"

Lee saluted and flames danced in his eyes "Yes Gai-sensei!"

(T&I Division)

Yakumo walked into one of the most feared locations in all of the Hidden leaf without pause, determined in her mission. She passed many hallways until she arrived at the door she wanted. She paused outside of the door and took a deep breath, before opening the door to the most feared man in Konoha's office.

Morimo Ibiki looked up and saw the genjutsu expert of team 9 in his office. He put down his pen "What do you want chunin?"

Yakumo stared determinedly at the heavily scared man and made her request "I want you to train me."

Ibiki raised an eyebrow at Anko's former genin "Why would I want to train you gaki?"

Yakumo used a genjutsu to transform the office into a torture chamber "Because I know you're the premier genjutsu expert in the village and know talent when you see it."

Ibiki looked around a bit, he could smell the dungeon, feel the dampness, hear the faint screams of other prisoners, and see the dreariness of his surroundings. However as quick as the illusion came it shattered to a million pieces when he fluxed his chakra. He leaned back in his chair and observed the seemingly innocent looking girl "Alright brat, I'll see what you can do. But know this, I will not give you breaks or any quarter. If you fall during my training that will be it. Got it?"

Yakumo clenched her hands in determination and stated clearly "Yes Sensei!"

(Yuhi Residence)

A pink haired girl knocked on the door to her sensei's apartment. When Kurenai opened the door she spoke seriously "Sensei, I have something I wish to ask you."

Kurenai looked a bit surprised before nodding and opened the door wider to let the girl in. Once they were situated on two couches the red ringed eyed genjutsu mistress spoke first "What is this about, Sakura?"

Sakura Haruno looked determinedly at her sensei. She would no longer be useless and become a serious Konochi "I wish to become your official apprentice."

Kurenai raised her eyebrow "Why do you wish to become my official student Sakura, your already on my genin team."

Sakura shook her head "No, I need to learn the more masterful arts of genjutsu. I wish to be as strong as my teammates, and become as strong as the best genjutsu users in the world."

The Genjutsu mistress nodded and felt proud, her genin had come a long way from the fangirl she had gotten when they had graduated. She smiled and nodded "Alright Sakura, just so you know I won't go easy on you."

Sakura smirked and punched her fists together "I can take it shannaro!"

(Orochimaru's base)

Sasuke walked forward, escorted by Kabuto and saw Orochimaru heavily bandaged, glaring at him with one exposed eye.

Kabuto whispered into the genins ear "Be respectful, he may be injured but he is still Orochimaru-sama."

Sasuke glared at Kabuto with his Sharingan and the dark medic recoiled a bit at seeing the hatred in the gaze. Sasuke snorted and stared back at Orochimaru 'So this is the grand betrayer himself. I will learn all I can from you before I bring vengeance upon you.'

Orochimaru smirked a bit "Well then Sasuke, let us begin your training."

(two days later, Konoha gates)

Shio walked forward with her backpack on and approached the gates to Konoha. She was fully healed and was walking to meet up with Jiraiya to go on her training trip. She perked up a bit when she saw Naruto leaning against a fence. She ran up to him and smiled "You came to say goodbye!"

Menma blushed a bit and nodded "Yeah, I am not going to see you in three years you know."

Shio smile broadly "Don't worry, it will go by in a flash. I heard from tou-san that you are now Tsunade's official apprentice, congradulations!"

Menma smirked "Well someone has to patch you up when you get over your head."

Shio frowned and stamped her food angrily "Please! When I get back I will be so strong I won't even need healing!"

Menma smirked again "Sure, I will see you later, how about we meet back up in three years?"

Shio smirked right back "Yeah! It's a date."

They passed each other on the road, Menma heading towards the Hospital, donning a white doctor's coat over his black outfit and Shio donning a traveling poncho and ran to meet with Jiraiya. Their fates up in the air now as they trained for the future.

And the eventual battles with the Akatsuki and the puppet masters behind them.

 **AN2: Ugh that took awhile to write. I have been super busy these past few days. This chapter is a bit shorter than what I usually put out but I think I put all the important bits in here. Anyway I will try and get the next chapter up as soon as I can. In the time before then I hope everyone has a good day!**


	21. Chapter 21: Shippuden

**AN: Time for Shippuden everyone! I can't believe this story has gotten so many responses and viewers since I started it. I am glad I am fulfilling everyone's expectations and hope to continue to do so in the future. As always I do not own Naruto or any of the other references I use in this story.**

 **Btw, I do not own any of the references in this story.**

 **Chapter 21:**

 **Shippudden**

 **(Unkown Location)**

Purple energy swirled around a cavern, forming a storm of energy. The power was uncontrolled, only contained by a large gate, with a sealing tag holding it in.

The energies were slowly coming together in the rough shape of a man. The form was still indistinct and blurred but the figure seemed to open its eyes a bit, revealing purple slit pupils and spoke in an echoing tone " **Soon."**

(Outside the seal)

Shio Uzumaki smiled as she came within sights of the majestic gates of Konoha for the first time in three years. Her armored dress shifting a bit in the wind as she walked with her godfather, Jiraiya. She had been away for three years during her training trip. They had traveled the five nations training and learning new things from Jiraiya's spy network.

She had trained with the toads for a time as well, finally mastering senjutsu with the help of shadow clones.

She had also decided to change her outfit after finding this battle outfit in a shinobi store in the land of earth. She hoped the people back in Konoha liked her new look. She knew they would be impressed by her increase in ability.

(Konoha Hospital)

"So you were not trying to escape the hospital before you were released?"

The jonin tied to the bed in spider silk quickly shook his head in fear as a large spider hung from the ceiling.

The doctor made another tick mark on his clipboard "Good, because if you had tried for the 5th time this week, especially after your last accident on the previous mission. I would be very displeased. I would have to take..." he looked at the cocooned Jonin and large spider on the ceiling "drastic action to keep you contained."

The jonin paled further "Ok, ok! I swear I won't try to escape anymore!"

The doctor nodded and dispelled the spider and bindings "If I see you try to escape one more time I'm poisoning your food."

The jonin nodded rapidly and the doctor sighed and exited the patients room.

He walked down the hallway and entered Tsunade's office.

Tsunade looked up "Menma, done threatening another patient I see."

Menma nodded "Yes, Azoi-san can't seem to stay in his bed so I used some more permanent persuation tactics.

Tsunade smirked "Are you sure that's how a jonin should be acting?"

Menma sighed, Tsunade had always teased him about being promoted to Jonin and he decided to still work in the hospital with her. He had been promoted to Jonin one year after Shio left for her training trip. He had learned some advanced medical techniques from Tsunade, from performing heart surgery to resetting bones, he learned it all. After two years of studying medical ninjutsu he trained in the Forbidden forest with the spider clan, mastering their senjutsu.

In the three years he made more connections to his former parents as well. They were now close friends and met up together for dinner every Sunday.

He adjusted his lab coat and tan turtleneck shirt before turning back to Tsunade "By the way, there coming back today right?"

Tsunade looked up from her paper work "Yes the brat and the pervert are coming back. You should meet them at the gate."

Menma nodded and walked out of the hospital and made his way to the gate. He waved to a few acquaintances on his way. He had become rather well known in the village and had even earned himself a place in the Bingo book as an A-ranked nin.

 **Bingo Book Entry 283**

 **Name: Menma Gorgon**

 **Alias: The Plague Bringer**

 **Rank: A**

 **Threat Level: Be extremely cautious and do not engage without backup.**

 **Known Skill: Highly advanced poison manipulation. Master Medic-nin. Master archer. Master chakra manipulation. Spider contract.**

He was quite proud of his accomplishments. Not to mention his secret ability that no one besides Tsunade and Arachne have seen. He had given himself a last name as well. Arachne had suggested it, saying that one of her best friends had that last name.

It felt nice to have a last name again. If he ever decided to have a family he would have a clan name.

He continued to walk to the gate, preparing for the meeting with his sister he had not seen for three years.

(Konoha Gates)

Shio jumped onto a pole near the gates of Konoha and spread her arms wide, smiling at the feeling of the wind passing around her as she observed the city.

She heard Jiraiya from below "Shio, go and get yourself reacquainted with the city. I will go report to your father."

Shio nodded and was about to go explore before she heard from the side "Yo, Shio. You have grown taller."

She turned and exclaimed happily "Kakashi-sensei!"

Crouching on a rooftop the cyclops jonin eye smiled "It has been a long time Shio."

Shio grinned her usual wide grin "It has! I have gotten a lot stronger Kakashi! I am probably stronger than you now!"

Kakashi laughed a bit "I am sure you have a few years to go before you're at my level Shio."

Kakashi held up a hand before Shi could talk more "I have to meet up with Hokage-sama for a meeting, go and find some of your friends to talk too."

Shio nodded and Kakashi disappeared in a plume of smoke.

She jumped down from the poll and began exploring the busy streets of Konoha.

Shio wandered around until she passed through an alley and saw a familiar face. Her brother had changed a lot since she left Konoha. His hair was still in that spiky style he had three years ago, but his outfit had completely changed. He now wore a skin tight black turtleneck, dark red shinobi pants with many pockets, and a white lab coat over the attire. She smiled and ran up to him while yelling "Menma!"

(Menma's POV)

Menma turned around when he heard his name and saw his sister for the first time in three years. She had changed much in the past three years. Instead of her eyesore orange attire she now wore a red battle dress with matching armored leggings. Menma guessed that the armor was inscribed with anti-gravity seals to prevent the armor from hampering her combat.

He smiled "Hello Shio, it's been three years."

Shio nodded and grinned "It feels so much longer though! We have so much to catch up on!"

Menma nodded "Yes, but later, we have just received a summons from Hokage-sama."

Shio looked confused "How do you know?"

Suddenly an ANBU appeared and spoke "You are correct, you both are to come to the Hokage's office immediately."

Both nodded and they all flickered away.

(Hokage Office)

Minato sat in his chair and pondered the current situation. The Akatsuki had showed signs of movement these past few months. However, what truly worried him was the situation with the Kyuubi. He had received an urgent missive from Jiraiya halfway into their training trip explaining that the kyuubi's consciousness was not in the seal. The chakra was there, but the soul of the beast was not.

He did not know if being separated from his yin half killed the Kyuubi, or that it escaped somehow. But it made controlling the kyuubi's chakra both harder and easier. She now did not have to fight the consciousness of the Kyuubi for control of the chakra, but without the Kyuubi she could not make a deal to use small amounts of the energy.

However even without the kyuubi's chakra Shio was turning into a wonderful kunoichi. Her wind manipulation and sword skill was unparalleled in the village and had surpassed many foreign ninjas.

He needed to see their skill firsthand so he had prepared this demonstration of their abilities.

The fourth hokage looked up when he felt the familiar incoming chakra signatures and began speaking to the now present duo "Shio, Menma, it is good to see you both. I called you both here to demonstrate your abilities in a mock battle against an opponent of my choosing."

Menma raised an eyebrow "Who are we going to be battling against Hokage-sama?"

Minato grinned "Me."

Shio widened her eyes and Menma frowned deeply "Hokage-sama, we stand no chance against you. Will this truly be a fair fight?"

Minato nodded "I will not be going at full strength and you will not need to injure me. Meet me at training ground 7, your senseis will be there along with a few other observers."

The chunin and jonin nodded and they once again disappeared in a Shunshin.

(Training ground 7)

Menma and Shio stood across from Minato, wind slowly blowing across the field as Jiraiya, Tsunade, Anko, Kakashi, and the remaining members of team 7 and 9.

The members of team 7 and 9 had changed in the past three years. Lee still wore a dark green jumpsuit but now he included a lime green scarf that nearly covered his mouth. Yakumo had decided to slightly mimic the style of her teacher and now wore a bandanna trench coat combo. Anko had not changed her style but added two bracers to her arm with large blades attached to them, perfect for her snake style of combat.

Kiba had changed a lot since his time as a genin. He now wore a more mature outfit than his last bulky coat. He wore a grey track jacket with matching pants. He also wore a face mask similar to Kakashi's. By his side was Akamaru, now greatly increased in size.

Minato took out two bells and showed them to both genin "You both already know the rules. I have two bells and each of you must get one by sunrise.

Menma and Shio nodded and took their respective stances.

A small time passed and Minato called out "Begin!"

Shio exploded into action, summoning her nodochi and appeared behind Minato, already swinging her sword to bisect him. However when the blade was inches from Minato he disappeared in a yellow flash and reappeared on a tree "Did I forget to mention that I pre prepared this field before the test? I have placed hirashin seals in five locations within the forest, you have to beat me before I teleport to the next mark."

He would have continued but he had to dodge out of the way from Menma who appeared behind him with a palm thrust, completely obliterating it.

As Minato jumped away from the palm thrust he had to avoid a large gust of cutting wind sent from Shio's Katana by throwing a Hirashin kunai into the air, effectively avoiding both attacks.

Menma ran through some handsigns and spat poison in fast small balls "Poison scatter shot!"

Minato weaved through through the bullets and deflected a thrust from Shio's katana with his kunai. He spun in the air and kicked his daughter away from him in time to block a palm thrust by intercepting it with his arm. The Hokage was pushed back a bit by the large blast that was released from the palm.

Minato observed the damage from the palm thrust 'What insane chakra control. Instead of using Tsunade's super strength for brute force, he pushes the chakra out as a sort of cannon, destroying anything that he presses his hand against.

He spun around and cut deeply into Menma's arm before he could dodge, scattering blood on the ground. . He was confused when instead of the normal red liquid, the blood appeared black.

Menma looked at the blood on the ground before smirking at Minato "Hey Hokage-sama, did you know my blood is black?"

Minato looked confused but his eyes widened as spikes of blood erupted from the liquid on the ground, which would of impaled Minato if it he had not replaced himself with a clone.

Menma smirked and manipulated the black blood on the ground to cover his hands in the protective layer. He remembered when he had discovered this ability of his.

(Flashback)

Menma was sorting out his medical supplies before he cursed when he cut himself on a sharp scalpel. He sighed and wiped his hand on a napkin and placed it next to him.

Tsunade entered the room and stared at the dark liquid in confusion "Menma. Why is your blood black?"

Menma looked over and explained "I ingested too much poison when training to become immune to it. My blood turned black as a result. Anko-sensei said this is a common situation among poison specialists."

Tsunade shook her head and observed the blood more closely "No, this isn't a case of blood poisoning. If you had the disease it would make your blood a darker color but not this dark. Your blood is completely black, which should be impossible because of the white cells in your blood."

Menma blinked "Then what do I have?"

Tsunade looked puzzled "I am not sure, I have not seen this before."

Menma frowned and looked at the small drop of blood on his finger. He observed it a bit and then decided to channel chakra into it. What no one in the room expected was for the drop to extend in a sharp point in front of him.

They both stared at the spike of blood as it slowly retracted as Menma removed the chakra in it. Tsunade broke out of her stupor and remarked "We have a lot of training to cover."

Menma just nodded, too stunned to say anything.

(End Flashback)

They had extensively tested his blood and found that it may be a new bloodline emerging. It seems that the combination of ingesting too many poisons and his bond with the spiders had altered his DNA more than anticipated. He no longer had any DNA from his parents and was almost an entirely new being. His body could contain much more blood, and he could control it with his chakra. He theorized this may be similar to how other clans gained their bloodlines, by constantly doing an exercise that altered their DNA.

Back to the battle Menma was using his bloody needles to constantly keep Minato on guard as he relentlessly attacked with palm thrusts. Despite his disadvantages Minato was still able to effectively dodge all of the attacks, including some attacks by Shio.

Menma had do dodge out of the way of a hirashin rasengan combo and jumped away as Shio came in with her sword glowing brightly.

Shio reappeared around Minato three times while calling out "Flying Swallow!"

Minato was forced to hirashin away as the three simultaneous attacks would have cut him deeply.

She had learned this move after being bugged by a swallow on their training trip. She had spent all day trying to kill it with her sword until she mastered this technique, the flying swallow. Hey, don't judge, the damn bird stole her last bite of ramen.

The battle went on for hours, Minato evading and dodging all of their attacks with his hirashin kunai.

Near dawn Menma and Shio panted in the shade of a tree, exhausted from their long battle. Both were using their sensory techniques to keep track of Minato and knew he was only a half mile away from their location.

Shio took a long drink of water and spoke "Hagh…we need to find his weakness. He is nearly invincible with his Hirashin because there is nothing we can do to cage him in. During my seal training I could not find a good counter for the Hirashin besides what Orochimaru did at the Chunin exams. However, it would not work here because we do not have four people."

Menma nodded and then thought of something "Hey…you grew up with him for 13 years, surely you know something he is weak against."

Shio thought heavily "Hrm, besides his slight allergy to peanuts, I cant…think of…" She trailed off as she grew a truly evil smile of a prankster at him.

Menma sweatdropped at the face and asked warily "What."

Shio's grin grew as she spoke "Menma-chaaaan, how good are you at the Henge?"

Menma frowned harder at her calling him brother and then sweatdropped harder at her question "Good enough to fool anyone without chakra sensing I suppose."

Shio giggled a bit "Here is the plan."

Menma really wished she would stop grinning when she began to explain the plan.

(Forest Clearing)

Minato stood in the middle of the clearing waiting for an Ambush. He was really proud of his two children, even if Menma technically wasn't his child anymore. He read the medical report that the DNA of his parents had been eradicated by his new bloodline limit. He had not known the black blood could be controlled though. He was told it just allowed him to produce more blood than normal.

Well he couldn't blame a ninja for keeping secrets.

He kept looking around for an ambush when he heard his wife's thunderous voice "MINATO NAMIKAZE!"

He spun around and spluttered when he saw his wife stalking up to him with her hair flying in its signature nine tailed state "Ku-kushina..haha…why are you here?"

Kushina glowered "Why didn't you tell me that my daughter had come back to the village! I would have met her at the gates the minute she walked through! And you just decide to wander off without telling me about this training exercise!"

Minato tried to explain but Kushina got right up to his face "No excuses, you are going to stop this exercise or you are sleeping on the couch for a month!"

The whipped Fourth Hokage was about to try and console his wife when "Kushina" smirked and held up the two bells, before disappearing in a plume of smoke revealing Menma "We win Hokage-sama."

Minato blinked a bit before bursting out laughing as Shio came out of hiding, also smirking at their victory.

The rest of the audience appeared and began to congratulate the two on their victory.

Shio smirked at her father "I knew you are weak against kaa-san, tou-san. You are really whipped."

Minato tried to defend his pride but Menma remarked "Your reactions were a bit too real though, you did tell Kushina about this exercise, right?"

Minato seemed to freeze a bit before starting to sweat.

Shio looked at him and sighed "Guess it will be sleeping on the couch for you dad."

Everyone laughed as Minato seemed to despair at his wife's rage of not being informed her daughter had returned.

(Later that Day)

Shio looked curiously at Menma while they were walking together after the match "You know Menma, you did not summon any spiders against Minato, I'm kind of surprised."

Menma explained "I cannot summon any spiders right now I'm afraid. Arachne is preparing the ritual that will allow me the full benefits of the Spider senjutsu. All the spiders are participating in this event. I'm told it's a time of great celebration when a new spider senjutsu wielder is about to be initiated.

Shio nodded "Yes, when I mastered senjutsu the frogs held a grand celebration as well. I did not use it against Minato because he would have stopped me from meditating to gather nature energy."

Menma smiled a bit "Well, besides our unorthodox win I am happy that you are back in the village Shio-san."

Shio smiled her classic wide grin closed eyed smile "Yep! I'm glad to be back too Menma!"

Unkown to the two laughing and smiling teenagers however, a messenger hawk was already on its way from Suna, holding a message that would change their lives over the next year. The games had finally begun.

 **AN2: And done. I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. I finally gave Menma the black blood and gave Shio the flying swallow technique. I gave them much more as well but I did not get a chance to fully demonstrate it in this battle. Anyway next up, the retrieve Gaara arc :D.**


	22. Chapter 22: The Poisoned Sand

**AN: Hello everyone! It is time for the 22th installment of this series. As always I do not own any of the references in this story, they belong to people with very difficult to spell names. I will also address some comments I saw.**

 **God of Vampires: It is true that his palm techniques are slightly similar to Stein, but it is not soul wavelength. I actually considered doing the dissecting thing in shippuden but decided against it.**

 **Decius: I love it how people just ignore my ANs (is everyone ignoring what im writing now?) There is no bleeping smut anywhere in this story. I agree that incest in** ** _real life_** **is wrong, but this is the internet. Where any crazy bat shit is possible and often applauded.**

 **Butterflypuss: I described the gate and the whirling energies _. If people did not know it was inside the seal they need to reread the manga.**

 **Emilbootanimefreak: I decided to combine a bunch of different blood techniques from around the net. I am going to add some dead man wonderland, soul eater, and Vladimir techniques. As for the iron, no. There is only a minsecule amount of iron in the blood, to create an effective technique from the blood using only the iron would take around an armies worth of blood.**

 **NarutoDkurosaki: If my plot sucks, make your own that's better. What your basically doing is reading the first four pages of a book and deciding it sucks.**

 **P.S. im still waiting for someone to show me a fic where abandoned naruto was abandoned due to direct interference from the Kyuubi, not just the fact that the soul is inside of him.**

 **Anyway, on to the story.**

 **Chapter 22:**

 **The Poisoned Sand**

(Konoha)

An eagle with the suna insignia flew into the message booth near the Hokage's tower. The active ninja on duty took the offered scroll and his eyes widened when he saw the color of the scroll 'Black, which means it's an emergency. I will take this to Hokage-sama.'

He rushed out of the room, running at top speed to bring the message to Minato's attention.

(1 Hour later)(Minato's Office)

Minato spoke seriously to the two teams in front of him "This is an S-ranked mission. The Kazekage, Gaara no Sabaku has been kidnapped by the Akatsuki, presumably to remove his bijuu."

He looked seriously at the 5 shinobi in front of him "Shio Uzumaki, Mito Gekko, Sakura Haruno, Menma Gorgon, and Kakashi Hatake, you five are assigned this mission."

Menma glanced around at the assembled ninja. He knew the strengths and weaknesses of most of his teammates. Sakura and Mito had undergone power spikes in the last three years. He observed Sakura. She had surprised everyone by quickly becoming one of the strongest rookies from the weakest in only two years. She had taken Kurenai genjutsu and brought it to new heights.

She had also changed her look in the recent years. Gone were the Chinese bright dresses and in were a sort of bondage type gear that showed off much more than necessary. However the lack of armor had not hindered her in the least as most enemies never land a hit on her due to her illusions. She was a true rival to Yakumo Kurama, who had recently retired from missions to join the T&I department full time. She had earned the nickname of The Deceiver.

Mito Gekko had also earned a well-respected reputation as a swordswoman in recent years. She was famous for fighting with a broken nodochi that she had received from her father. She had created a new style that revolved around the broken blade. She was also famous for separating her chakra into physical and mental energy, only using her physical chakra in fights to give her great strength, speed, and mobility. She earned the nickname of the Broken Wing, symbolizing her broken sword style.

Each member of the team had a specialization so he knew they were well rounded. He understood they would all be pushed to their limits against the Akatsuki so he hoped it would be enough.

Minato looked each member in the eye before announcing "Alright then, the retrieve the Kazekage mission begins now!"

Each member of the new team yelled "Hai!" and disappeared to get ready for the mission.

(Konoha Gates)

The five members of the newly dubbed "Team Kakashi" arrived at the gate and sped off, traveling to the land of Wind.

After several hours of running Shio spotted a familiar figure "Hey is that Temari?"

Menma looked and indeed the Wind mistress of Suna was walking down the path they were following "She must be returning from her visit for the chunin exams that are coming up. She can come with us, the report said that her brother is in danger."

After many worried exclamations from Temari the team plus one made good progress through the desert. Temari's expertise on the landscape helped speed up their journey tremendously. He also learned a new chakra exercise of keeping a platform of chakra under his feat to not be slowed down by the sand. It was very similar to water walking so he managed it on the run, as did everyone else.

When they arrived at the city they were immediately escorted to the hospital. He ignored the loud exclamations of the obviously senile old lady to check up on Kankuro. Once the commotion had finally died down he unsealed his lab coat and put it on, as well as a face mask and plastic gloves "The toxin in his body is iron based. It is hard to form an antidote because of how sturdy the poison is. It is basically killing his cells from the inside out like a disease. However…"

He stuck a needle into Kankuro's arm. The moaning jonin immediately appeared to go into a deathlike state. Temari who was watching yelped in surprise "What did you do!?"

Menma looked at her a bit annoyed "I used a venom to put him into a brief coma. This will slow his heartbeat down to a crawl and stop the poison from going through the bloodstream. This will give me significantly more time to prepare an antidote. You!" he pointed to a local doctor.

The man jumped and questioned the Konoha medic "Yes?"

Menma quickly wrote down a list of herbs and medicines and gave it to the man "Quickly fetch me everything on this list, I can prepare an antidote after forcefully extracting most of the poison."

The man nodded and he flashed through some handsigns, forming a large ball of water in the air. He put his hand on it and pulled out a large bubble "I will warn anyone watching, this will be unpleasant."

He made a small cut on Kankuro with a scalpel and forcefully inserted the water into the sand jonin. If Kankuro had been conscious he would have felt tremendous pain as the poison was forcefully expunged from his system. After nearly a half an hour of extracting the poison he turned to the doctors who were observing "He is in stable condition, however I need those herbs to create an antidote to fully remove the poison, and hopefully create more antidotes for the rest of us to become resistant to its effects."

The doctor nodded and an assistant came in with the required ingredients. After an hour of work Menma re-entered the room four syringes of the antidote. He injected Kankuro with the antidote and revived him with medical ninjutsu. Kankuro slowly woke up from his forceful coma and blinked blearily as Temari rushed forward to hug him.

Menma sighed and wiped his face with a towel and took a drink of water after the surgery. That much precise chakra control was taxing on a person. If he had made one mistake it could have costed Kankuro his life. He listened in as Kankuro explained the person he faced was Sasori of the red sands. He was intrigued by this. Sasori was one of the few known ninjas who could beat him in terms of poison mastery.

Soon, however they prepared to leave with the addition of Lady Chiyo, following the scent provided by Kankuro.

Kakashi summoned Pakkun who sniffed the piece of Sasori's face mask and the pug turned and spoke over his shoulder in his surprisingly deep voice "This way, the scents faint but I can still follow it."

Team Kakashi and Chiyo nodded before taking off at top speeds into the desert. Hopefully to find the Kazekage alive before the Akatsuki extracted the Ichibi.

(Forest Clearing, several hours after team Kakashi left Suna)

The team and suna shinobi made good progress through the desert, eventually crossing the border into the land of rivers, a simple nation comprised mostly of rice farmers. They were currently running through a forest when the six ninja were forced to stop upon seeing the two black and red clad members of the Akatsuki.

Menma narrowed his eyes and prepared for battle "Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki."

Itachi tilted his head slightly in greeting "It has been a long time Menma…Shio."

Shio frowned as she inspected the two shinobi in front of her. Kisame was filled with bloodlust and happiness while Itachi's emotions seemed suppressed. She assumed that even Itachi must have felt guilt murdering his family so he buried his emotions.

Kakashi raised the headband covering his Sharingan eye and glanced at his team "Be wary of Itachi's eyes. One look into them and you will be trapped in a genjutsu."

Sakura stepped forward slightly "Let me fight him, I have the best chances against his genjutsu."

Mito also stepped forward, drawing her broken sword. Despite being broken in half the sword still held a great length "I will fight Kisame, the rest of you go on ahead."

Kakashi was about to protest when Mito glared at him hard. Even a war veteran like Kakashi had to be cowed by the resolution in the orbs "Don't worry, I will survive."

Kakashi sighed and nodded. The four remaining members of the squad dashed around the Akatsuki members, Sakura and Mito covering for them as they made their way past.

Soon after the four members left the remaining four ninjas faced off against each other.

(Itachi vs Sakura)

Itachi observed the pink haired girl in front of him. She was dressed rather flamboyantly in what appeared to be a purple bondage outfit with a half long skirt and a cape with a high collar. He had heard rumors of a genjutsu user without a clan becoming almost as good as him in genjutsu. It would seem he would get the opportunity to see if these rumors are true.

Sakura stared into Itachi's Sharingan eyes without fear. She was constantly releasing the genjutsu placed upon her. She smirked a bit and took out a bottle and threw it at the ground, covering the area with smoke "Let us begin the battle then."

Itachi looked around as the smoke cleared, there were several deceivers all around him. He figured she had used the smoke to hide some clones. A basic but good tactic. However for someone like him, he could tell where the real one was easily. He dashed forward and punched a Sakura, but frowned when the clone disappeared into smoke and became two separate mirror images.

He frowned, she must be replacing herself with clones while creating more every time he killed one. Once again basic and not what he expected. He saw a clone dash towards him and noticed the clone made no shadow. He let the clone hit him, knowing it would go straight through.

He was shocked however when he felt pain from the punch and struggled to regain his balance from the constant barrage of attacks from the apparent clone. He was constantly fending off attacks from the mirror images of the pink haired jonin 'What is this technique. My Sharingan cannot break down the illusion. I can tell they are all simply clones, but they deal real damage. In addition…' He stabbed a Sakura with a kunai and frowned deeply when the clone simply split into two 'Every time I kill a clone it becomes two.'

Sakura smirked at the struggling Uchiha "Having a bit of trouble? I learned this technique to counter your brother. He broke my heart you know. So I am going to break his. I guess I can start by killing his life's goal."

If he was not Itachi Uchiha he would have sweatdropped. It seemed that one of his little brother's fan girls had become psycho. He decided to take it up a notch and jumped into the air, blasting the clones bellow him in a large fireball. He landed safely away and grunted in annoyance when he felt a kick on his back from another Sakura clone. It seemed he had just doubled the entire amount of clones in the clearing. He was very impressed by this illusion. Whatever the pink haired gennin was doing, it perfectly countered the Sharingan. His eyes could not break the illusion down and was constantly under assault from mimics. If he was not a clone he could have used his mangekyou to break out but he did not have enough chakra to sustain the technique. He sighed as he felt a kunai be buried into where the clone's heart was. As he melted away he observed the once fangirl in front of him and spoke a few words "You are very skilled in the arts of illusions. I would like to fight you again someday, at full power." With those words he melted completely, revealing the face of an unknown suna jonin.

Sakura frowned and stoppered up a bottle in her hands. She had worked on that smoke for years to counter the Uchiha's eyes. Instead of inserting her chakra into the opponent, she spread her chakra out in the smoke from the vile, creating mirages and other effects on the victim. Itachi had seen many clones of her splitting every time she was hit, instead she was simply one and he hit the wrong way, seeing what the smoke made him saw. The Sharingan couldn't counter the illusion simply because it was not in the body. The Sharingan made the illusion more effective because it made the clones clearer and distinct to the wielder. It was the perfect illusion to counter an Uchiha.

She began to run in the direction her allies went, hoping Mito was doing fine against Kisame.

(Mito vs Kisame)

The two had jumped away from the illusionist battle and landed in a rocky field at the edge of the forest, perfect for their sword skills.

Kisame eyed his opponent with a veteran's eye. The girl had her purple hair in a messy bun, letting her fringes nearly cover her cheeks. She wore a mix of bandages and plate armor for her clothes and leather sandals. Odd attire for a shinobi but perfect attire for a swordswoman. He also inspected the girl's sword. The Katana was an odd one. It was perfectly straight and double sided. One green signal glowed on the broken blade. It must have been quite beautiful when it was complete.

He smirked at the purple haired girl "How do you expect to fight me with that broken sword?"

Mito didn't say anything for a bit and readied her stance, preparing to spring forward "My blade may be broken…" She dashed forward at great speed, appearing behind the cocky Akatsuki member "But my will remains strong and it will lead me to victory."

Kisame barely had enough time to lift Samehada up to block her strike before being assaulted under fast and brutal strikes by the girl. She used an odd style of twirling around and jumping to gain openings. If Kisame hadn't known better he would assume that was under assault by a killer rabbit.

He separated away and flashed through one handed handsigns, creating a large burst of water from his mouth that roared towards the girl like a tidal wave, with Kisame riding on top of it like a surfer.

Mito dashed forward and used chakra to increase her leap, clearing the wave and slashing at Kisame as he passed. The shark-like man grunted a bit as he felt the broken blade cut into his shoulder.

Kisame glanced at his cut shoulder and he felt his grin widen "Ahh, you actually managed to cut me. That is impressive. But do you know what happens when a Shark smells blood?"

Mito tightened her stance a bit as she felt the air get saturated with killing intent.

Kisame dashed forward at great speeds, seemingly teleporting in front of the girl with his Samehada raised "They go into a feeding frenzy!"

The swordswoman barely had enough time to parry and dodge as the large sword swung in random but swift strikes at her guard.

Mito knew she would have to get serious if she wanted a chance to survive. She gathered yin chakra around her and yelled in a burst of power, stunning Kisame for a few seconds from the force of the physical energy. The purple haired woman jumped away and held her sword in front of her. Green energy seemed to energy emerged from the blade. She kept pumping energy and focused her will, soon she was holding her completed Katana. The sword was as long as she was tall and very wide for a Katana. She had forged his sword after graduating as a sword master from her father, Hayate. However, two years ago his father had died on a mission against an unknown rogue ninja. She had broken her sword upon his gravestone and swore to rebuild her sword when she had avenged him.

With a roar she swung her sword at Kisame, the force of the swing was so great that a shockwave of wind blasted from the blade and slammed into the shark man. Mito narrowed her eyes and entered into the move that had earned her nickname of the broken wings. She spun in several graceful arcs, cutting deeply into Kisame, before jumping high into the air, performing a flip and cutting the man in two as she descended.

She panted as she observed the two halves of her opponent and frowned. The man on the ground was not Kisame. It was an unknown ninja that seemed to have flecks of ash dissolving around him. She sheathed her once again broken sword and ran to catch up with her teammates. They had a Kazekage to save.

(Akatsuki base)

The four remaining members of the team stood before the base of the Akatsuki, which was a giant boulder with a sealing tag on it.

Shio inspected the seal "It's a five point seal, usually someone would have to remove all of the mimics of the seal in the area at the same time to remove it. However I know a shortcut. I just have to cut the chakra connects with a counter seal.

She quickly drew a seal around the five point seal and applied chakra "There, and now just the boulder."

Menma stepped forward and rested his hand on the boulder. In a bright flash of light, which everyone had to avoid looking at, the boulder was reduced to rubble.

They rushed inside only to look in horror as a giant cloud of chakra was absorbed into a statue's mouth and Gaara fell to the floor, seemingly dead.

All ten of the Akatsuki stood on top of the statue's fingers. Only the eyes were colored on the Akatsuki. The apparent leader of the group, looked at them calmly with his purple ringed eyes. The man spoke in an emotionless tone "Deidara, Sasori, deal with the annoyances."

A hunchback and blond man (woman?) nodded and jumped down from the fingers and all 8 of the other Akatsuki members disappeared.

The blond manwoman grunted and looked at the assembled group "Hnnn? Which one of them is the nine tails?"

Shio drew her Nodochi and wind gathered around her threateningly "Give Gaara back you assholes!"

Sasori spoke up for the first time "That's her, the reports said she uses a nodochi and wind combination."

Menma caught that phrase 'They have information on all of us. I assume they know most of our abilities, while we know nothing of theres.'

Shio spoke up while they prepared for their confrontation "I know blondie, his name is Deidara of the Explosive palms. He is an S-rank missing ninja from Iwa. He is well known for manipulating clay into explosives from his palms."

Everyone nodded, however Deidara summoned a large pelican looking sculpture and it ate Gaara's body. The blond haired now confirmed man exited the hide out while calling out "Catch me if you can nine tails!"

Shio growled and chased after the effeminate man. Menma turned to Kakashi "Go back her up, Lady Chiyo and I will face Sasori."

The one eyed jonin nodded and chased after his pupil.

(Menma & Chiyo vs Sasori)

Menma handed the old veteran three antidote syringes "Take these, I have already integrated the antidote into my immune system. His poison will not affect me."

Chiyo nodded, storing the vials into her robes and spoke "That body is not his real one. It is a puppet named Hiruko. He is inside the puppet."

Menma nodded and dashed forward at top speeds, intent on destroying the puppet.

Sasori responded by opening the puppets mouth, revealing a machine gun which spat out hundreds of senbon needles.

Menma continued to dash forward, hardening the blood in his veins to prevent the senbon from piercing him. He crossed his arms over his head and dashed right through the wave, shocking the two other ninja in the cavern.

Menma barely had enough time to lean to the side to dodge a scorpion tail from the puppet. However the tail was fast enough to cut his shoulder. Menma pressed his hand on the puppet and the entire thing imploded, causing a cloud of dust to settle over the battlefield. He looked into the dust 'Did I get him?'

The dust settled and a black clad figured emerged. The Akatuski member removed the black cloak and revealed himself to the two ninja.

Chiyo gasped when the surprisingly young face of Sasori was revealed. Chiyo looked shocked as she inspected her grandson "Impossible, he hasn't aged a day…"

Sasori sighed as he took out a scroll "I guess you guys deserve to face my favorite puppet." He unsealed the cloaked figure of the Second Kazekage.

Chiyo looked horrified upon seeing the puppet "Sasori…what have you done? You have been responsible for the deaths of three of the Kages of Suna?

Sasori looked annoyed "Oi Oi oi, I did not kill the third Kazekage, my subordinate led Orochimaru to him."

Menma looked a bit interested "You know about Orochimaru? I will force you to reveal his location."

Sasori looked emotionless "You can try." He attached all the chakra strings to the body of the second Kazekage. It was proof of how complicated the puppet was that a master puppeteer such as Sasori would require all ten of his fingers to control it. He spoke again, manipulating the puppet to open its mouth, revealing a tube "One of the most interesting things about human puppets is that they can use the abilities the ninja did in life. In this case…" The puppetized body released a huge cloud of iron sand into the air, manipulating it with magnetic waves "The legendary iron sand of the Second Kazekage."

What followed this declaration was an onslaught of waves and spikes of Iron sand. The iron sand was a unique weapon in that it could crush, pierce, and bind its opponents. However he already had experience with Gaara's sand and used the same tactics to dodge the spikes and large geometric rectangles as he searched for an opening. It was not until Sasori had the puppet to spread all the iron sand in spikes did he find an opening. He managed to avoid all of the spikes and dashed forward, smashing the puppet with a fierce palm thrust.

Sasori seemed unconcerned with the loss of his best puppet and sighed "It would be pointless to try any of my other human puppets against you." He unbuttoned his Akatsuki cloak and threw it off with a flourish, revealing his body to also be a human puppet.

Chiyo looked horrified "You went that far? You turned your entire body into a human puppet."

The legendary Suna puppeteer seemed resolute as she unsealed a small scroll from her arm "In that case I am resolved to use these which I have sworn to never use again." She released the contents of the scroll and Menma was surprised to see ten white puppets. All of the puppets were being controlled by one finger, the rumored highest point of mastery a puppeteer could achieve.

Sasori finally looked a little bit interested in the technique "The legendary finger puppets of Chiyo. It is rumored that you stormed an entire castle with that technique. However…"

He opened the part of his chest where his lungles would be and revealed a cloud of blue energy. He released a scroll on his back and what seemed like a hundred puppets appeared in the air,

He smirked a bit though, he had planned for something like this.

Sasori smirked at the two and motioned his chakra for all the puppets to attack, but frowned when none of them moved to do so. He looked up and was shocked to see that all of his puppets were stuck on chakra strings. He looked to the sides of the cavern and was further surprised to see hundreds of spiders, each controlling a chakra string to make an interlocking web that captured all of his puppets in the air. He looked back at Menma to see him resting his palm on his heart, and knew he was defeated.

He knew he was dead, so he decided to screw over his last teammate in his final moments. Orochimaru had betrayed him more than the Akatsuki, stealing the bodies of the first and second Hokage before he could turn them into puppets. He sighed "You wanted information on Orochimaru didn't you? I don't know if you want him or his new lapdog Sasuke, but I had planned to meet a spy in his ranks at the Tenshi Bridge, ten days from now. Do what you will with the information."

Menma nodded and released the gathered chakra in his palm, destroying Sasori's heart.

Chiyo looked down in sadness at the fallen body of her grandson "I wish there had been something I could have done to prevent this from happening. However, there is one more thing I must do. We need to find the others."

Menma nodded and sealed the body of Sasori, there may be something they could learn from the Akatsuki from the corpse.

They both left the cavern, hoping their teammates had defeated the other member of the Akatsuki.

(Shio & Kakashi vs Deidara)

Deidara flew overhead through a gorge as Shio and Kakashi jumped along spikes. Shio was repeatedly using her wind attacks to try and ground the Akatsuki member, but the clay construct proved very nimble in evading the tactics.

Kakashi glanced at Shio "Shio, I have a technique that will surely ground him, if not kill him directly, distract him as I prepare it."

The blond Uzumaki nodded and continued to keep up the pressure as Kakashi focused chakra into his Sharingan eye, transforming it into the Mangekyou version. It has surprised him that he had the mangekyou three years ago. After his encounter with Itachi he had tested it and found to his surprise that he had the mangekyou as well. However the chakra drain was so much that he could only keep it active for a few minutes. So he began to train heavily in the past three years and was now much stronger than before, and could keep the mangekyou up for around an hour, plenty of time to use this technique.

Soon a warp hole appeared on Deidara's torsoe he exclaimed in shock at the technique "Oi! What is this hm?!"

The hole continued but Deidara was able to dodge at the last second and the hole absorbed his shoulder, completely detaching his remaining arm.

The blond grunted and failed to miss a wind cut that sliced through his bird, which fell to the ground. A clone of Shio's managed to catch the clay bird's head and opened it to reveal the corpse of Gaara. The clone looked furious and dispersed to inform her creator of the news.

Shio felt more angry than she ever did at that moment. She glared at the Akatsuki member, unaware that her eyes were now glowing purple and her irises now slits. Her voice took a double layered tone as she spoke menacingly " **He just became Kazekage and you go and kill him. Finally accepted by everyone and you just take that away. I will kill you!"** Purple chakra condensed into spheres around her and they all launched at the armless Akatsuki member, creating a huge crater where each orb landed.

Kakashi arrived at the scene and widened his eyes at the enraged Shio. He remembered Jiraiya's warning before the mission.

(Flashback)

Jiraiya faced Minato and Kakashi seriously "I inspected the seal and it is true that the Kyuubi is now gone, however it seems something took its place."

Minato looked confused "What replaced the Kyuubi?"

Jiraiya shook his head "I do not know, but when I tried to loosen the seal on the chakra so she could access it easier, it emerged. Shio became much crueler and gained power over these dark orbs. It took everything I had to seal it away again." The toad sage handed Kakashi a slip of paper with a seal on it "Use this if whatever is in the seal acts up again."

Kakashi nodded and inspected the paper, he hoped he would not have to use this.

(Flashback End)

He darted forward and stuck the seal to Shio's forehead, causing the purple tint in her eyes to recede and her normal blue to come back. Shio nodded, showing she was alright. Menma and Chiyo arrived to see the Akatsuki member eating his clay bird. Soon after Mito and Sakura arrived as well, surrounding Deidara.

The mad bomber shouted at the gathered Konoha ninjas "You will never catch me!"

Shio gasped "All of his chakra is gathering in his stomach, he is going to explode!"

Everyone dashed away and Deidara bulged out obscenely, exploding in a brilliant fireball. The fire would have reached the ninja but Kakashi saved them by absorbing the explosion into his wormhole.

The silver haired jonin looked exhausted from using that move twice in one day.

(Forest clearing)

They rested Gaara upon a bed of flowers and Shio began to cry "Why is it always Gaara. He just became Kazekage!"

Kakashi looked at his pupil sadly "Shio…"

Shio glared fiercely at her sensei, one eye glowing slightly purple "No Sensei! This is not right. What right did they have to seal the Ichibi inside of him?! None of this would have happened! Gaara would still be alive. His life wouldn't have been living hell!"

Chiyo looked on sadly as she rested upon her knees and a blue glow surrounded her hands, entering the fallen body of Gaara."

Shio looked confused "What is she doing? I thought he was dead?!"

Chiyo appeared to grow exhausted as she said her last words "I…have made many mistakes in my life. With my grandson, my daughter, and this boy. I was the one to seal the Shukaku into Gaara. It is the mistakes of us old folks which hurt this generation the most. It is my duty…to at least set one thing right. She turned to Shio and Menma "You two…you are a great hope to this war torn world. You both shine with your own light, bringing hope to even a hopeless old lady like me. Treasure that light. For in the times ahead…we…will…surely…need it…" Lady Chiyo collapsed with her final words, the rest of the blue chakra entering Gaara who twitched a bit and opened his eyes slowly, appearing shocked to have woken up at all.

Shio rushed forward and hugged the recently revived Kazekage "Gaara! You're alive!"

Gaara seemed stunned by the hug "Shio…? You saved me?"

Shio shook her head "No, Granny Chiyo did something that brought you back to life. But everyone came to support you!"

Gaara looked around and indeed, almost a hundred suna ninja, from genin to jonin were cheering happily from the sidelines at their safe and sound Kazekage.

Gaara seemed speechless as they made their way back to Suna, knowing he had finally received the respect of his village since the Shukaku was sealed inside of him.

(2 days later)

The Konoha ninja stayed for Chiyo's funeral before preparing to leave. At the gates Gaara himself came to send them off to say thank you to his rescuers. The ties between the Leaf and Sand would be greatly strengthened by this event.

The departure ended with Shio shaking hands with the Kazekage, a memorable moment that would signify the beginning of a larger alliance between their two villages.

The Konoha ninja waved and began to walk away in the direction back to Konoha. Each feeling celebratory that two of the Akatsuki had died.

However, unkown to the Konoha or Suna ninja, is that a Lollypop masked man was flicking Sasori's ring up and down, giggling to himself as his plan progressed further.

 **AN2: WOW, long chapter to write. I hope everyone likes this chapter. If you have any questions or comments please review or PM me as always.**


	23. Chapter 23: The Turtle

**AN:** **Greetings everyone. Sorry for the late update, but thought of another idea for another story. If anyone is interested in reading it it's called True ninja. I also wish to give a thank you to all my readers. Today the story has passed 1000 reviews! Ty to everyone who commented and stuck with the story this far. Anyway on to what you clicked on the link for, this story. I will answer some questions before that however,**

 **VampWalker709/Gold Testament: Ty for your comments on the previous chapters, they made my day seeing someone comment on them favorably.**

 **AnAddictedReader: Shio wishes to bring Sasuke back, but she isn't as obsessed as canon about it. She believes that Sasuke isn't safe with Orochimaru and wants to get him away from the snake. She doesn't dedicate her life for it.**

 **Slifer91: I am not sure which arc I have skipped. If it was a filler movie that I missed then I probably didn't want to do it due to disliking most of the fillers. The only fillers scheduled is the sanbi mission, alternate dimension filler, and the last.**

 **Anyway I would like to point something out that I've notice to this story. I think I made a mistake early on in the story. By making two "MC" teams, team 7 and 9, it makes it harder to decide who will enter the canon events. So in this chapter I'm going to try and fix this by giving one team a filler and the other a shippuden mission. In this case it will be the Orochimaru arc and The Sanbi Mission. This is prob the only arc I will do this because after this Naruto becomes much looser since it's the Itachi arc. Btw, I made another mistake earlier in the series. Now, I am not saying this to offend anyone but I really dislike Kiba, as most of my readers can probably tell from earlier chapters. This is why I am reforming team 7 to be Shio, Sasuke, and Mito. It just makes better sense. Kiba will have a spot on team 10.**

 **Chapter 23**

 **The Turtle**

The entirety of the rookie twelve and their jonin senseis, except Kakashi, stood in the Hokage's office. Minato sat in front of them with his hands clasped in front of his face. He looked at each ninja in the eye and spoke seriously "Everyone here I am assigning a long term mission. You all will be a part of a mission to take down the Akatsuki. You will be removed from the active roster to only take part in missions involving the Akatsuki." He paused to look for any doubt in their faces, finding none he continued "You will each be assorted into your original teams and assigned missions. For now I only have two missions so I would like team 9 and team 7 to stay behind."

The not mentioned teams nodded and left the room.

Minato looked at the two teams and pulled out two scrolls, each labeled with an S-rank. He gave one to Anko and the other to Shio "Team 9, your mission will be to go to The land of Water and track down the sanbi. It has been reported that it has been reformed. I do not wish to do this, but the only way to insure that the Sanbi remains safe is to seal it within a jinchuuriki."

Everyone in the room's eyes widened at this information. Shio looked angry "Tou-san! We cannot make another jinchuuriki!"

Minato closed his eyes and frowned "We have no choice, the Sanbi is a sitting duck. Completely exposed to the Akatsuki and Kiri does not have enough sealing experience to seal it properly. All they would do is make another Gaara."

Shio winced as she remembered the psychopathic boy that Gaara was before she and Menma helped him.

Minato sighed again and handed a piece of paper to Anko "This seal is a weakened version of Shio's seal. It will be able to seal the Sanbi in an appropriate container. We have prepared an urn that will be used to seal the Sanbi."

None of the people in the room looked happy, but they knew it was necessary.

Minato then turned to team 7 "Team 7, my mission for you is to hunt down the spy in Orochimaru's ranks that Sasori mentioned. Since Kakashi is still out of commission I have requested a third teammate and Sensei for you."

He turned to the rest of the teams "The rest of you will remain on standby until anything else comes up. Be prepared at a moment's notice."

Everyone nodded and went about their duties.

(Village Gates)(Team 9)

Anko grinned at her three students "It's been a long time since we have teamed up together. I will enjoy this!"

Lee grinned his signature grin "Yosh! Despite the severity of the mission it will also be a chance to reconnect among friends!"

Yakumo and Menma smiled as they began to run through the forest, heading to the land of Water.

Unknown to them, but other parties besides the Akatsuki were also interested in the Sanbi.

(Unkown Lake)(Land of Water)

The four members of team 9 landed on the shore of the mist covered lake after a week of travel. Anko observed the mist and spoke aloud "The mist is laced with chakra, it is too dense for human chakra so the Sanbi must be producing it. It is reported that the three tails is able to produce illusions through the use of water so be alert."

Menma closed his eyes and extending his chakra web around the lake, and felt the presence of the Sanbi. It took the form of a massive three tailed turtle at the bottom of the lake. It appeared to be asleep. He opened his eyes and turned to his team "The Bijuu is at the bottom of the lake, to seal it we would need to get it to rise to the surface."

Anko frowned "To get the Sanbi to rise we would need a large disturbance in the lake."

However before anyone could react a voice behind them spoke "That won't be necessary because we will be the ones to seal the bijuu."

The four Konoha ninja turned and saw six illegal sound ninja glaring at them. At the front of the group stood a woman with purple hair and a fur collared coat. The second person was a tall and unimpressive looking man with slicked back brown hair. The third man…woman..thing was dressed in a full-body slime-suit, leaving only is face uncovered. The fourth man was very short and had white hair with grey skin. The final man had white hair and had a gas mask over his mouth.

Anko glared back at the sound ninja "You are illegal sound ninja, we will have to bring you in."

The apparent leader of the group smirked and spoke "You can try, but you won't succeed." The woman turned to her team "Take care of them, I will bring Yakimura to seal the Sanbi."

The four subordinates nodded and separated, each engaging on Konoha Shinobi while the leader made her way with a young boy across the lake.

(Anko vs Rinji)

Anko smirked as she stood across from Rinji. What her opponent did not know is that snakes were already burrowing underground to wrap around him, all she had to do was wait for them to bind him and then get one hand on the bastard to kill him. However, right before the snakes emerged from the ground, Rinji jumped away. Anko narrowed her eyes as she began to throw shurikens and kunai at the poncho wearing man.

It should have been impossible to dodge that many snakes with no warning. He must be either a sensor or have other ways of sensing what cannot be seen. She observed the field and saw out of the corner of her eye a bat screeching in one of the trees. It was daytime so the chances of a bat being in one of the trees was almost a null chance. She smirked and mentally commanded the snakes she had left in the woods to have a snack.

Rinji glared at the purple haired jonin. He knew she was once Orochimaru's favorite student. So if he killed her it would give him a good chance of replacing Kabuto. He smirked a bit when he heard his bats echolocation revealing the location of everything around him. He was about to put the jonin under an echolocation illusion when he paused and spat out blood. He looked down and saw a kunai sticking out from his heart. He looked up at the smirking snake mistress as she dissolved into snakes, and appeared behind him. He managed to utter "H-how?"

Anko explained what she did, all the while smirking "You shouldn't leave your bats out in the open, all it took was a simple genjutsu to replicate the sound of bats while my snakes killed all the real bats. You relied so much on your bats that you left yourself open. Now die." She sliced off the man's head with her kunai.

(Kiho vs Lee)

Lee faced the small man and grinned widely "Let us have a youthful battle sound nin!"

Kiho muttered under his breath as he observed his opponent "What the hell is with this guy." He was about to raise his arm to fire his wrist launcher when he was suddenly knocked away by a fierce kick by Lee.

The grey skinned man flew back several feet before filipping to land on his feet, panting heavily from that kick 'What the hell is that kid made of, his attacks hurt more than my missiles.'

He grunted as he was kicked away again but this time in midair he fired his rocket at the green clad ninja. Time seemed to slow as the rocket streaked towards Lee's face. However at the last second before the rocket connected with his fact Lee disappeared and re-appeared under the small man, and kicked him into the air. Lee disappeared once again and seemed to disappear as Kiho was battered in several directions before being drop kicked back to the ground, breaking the ground beneath the white haired rocket user, killing him instantly.

Lee sighed as he stared at the corpse of his opponent, he hated killing but he had no choice against a sound ninja, every ninja that wore that headband had a kill on sight order by every country. He then began to follow the leader of their group, hoping to stop her before she can seal the sanbi.

(Yakumo vs Gozu)

Gozu glared at the bandana wearing girl in front of him, she did not look like much with her simple looks but he knew that he should never judge a shinobi by their looks. He decided to end this quickly. He strengthened his body with his earth techniques and dashed forward at greed speeds, punching a hole through the girl's body. He removed his fist with no remorse and began to walk away, only to pause as he felt an inch on his arm. He looked down and saw a slight bump on it. He frowned and scratched it, only for several other bumps to appear on his arm. He grew alarmed as lumps began to form all over his body and he felt bites beneath his skin. Soon some of the lumps burst and small spiders began to crawl out of them, eating him alive.

This continued until his mind broke down from the trauma. The scene then fell apart in black sakura petals and revealed Yakumo standing above the foaming at the mouth gozan. She took a knife and stabbed the man in the chest. She had learned much from Ibiki. He had taught her to always start off with the most traumatizing genjutsu before the enemy knows she specializes in genjutsu. They will assume she is using ninjutsu, and not attempt to counter a genjutsu. Before they could realize their mistake, their own brains would act against them and sink them in terror, removing all logical thought.

She began to follow after the leader of their group, knowing she had to stop her before she sealed the Sanbi.

(Menma vs Nurari & Kigiri)

Menma sighed as he stared at the two ninja in front of him, he was annoyed that Orochimaru would send such low level people to try and fight him. He glanced at the two and commented offhandedly "I will make this quick."

Both of the sound shinobi glared but widened their eyes as the leaf shinobi in front of them began to drip poison, each drop creating sizable holes that ate the earth.

Once he was fully covered in poison Menma dashed forward while muttering under his breath "Doku no Yoroi."

Nurari tried to hit him, probably thinking his suit would protect him from the poison, however he was wrong as he cried out in pain. His suit was gradually turning purple as the poison infected him.

Menma smirked and decided to explain his ability a bit "That poison is composed of my most deadly venoms and my blood. It will slowly infect your blood until your entire body shuts down."

He sniffed the air and looked at the other sound ninja in distain "Poison? You think poison will affect me?"

Kigiri stiffed and began to back away, but Menma had enough of him. He disappeared and palm thrusted the man into oblivion.

He sighed and deactivated his poison armor. He was about to continue on to their leader when he saw a pillar of chakra in the air and cursed, it seems they had already begun their awakening of the bijuu.

(Middle of the lake)

Yakimura screamed as all of his chakra was released to awaken the beast and diminish his chakra reserves to make room for the bijuu chakra.

Soon the lake began to grow choppy as the Sanbi stirred from its rest. Guren smirked but frowned when she turned around and saw all four of the enemy Konoha shinobi. She grimaced 'I thought those dimwits would have given us more time.'

Anko stepped forward "Surrender or die. You are illegal sound-nin under the employment of an S-class criminal."

Guren growled at the insult to her master and formed two crystal bladed tonfas on her arms "Never! You will have to kill me first!"

Anko smirked "Then we just have to kill you then."

The four Konoha ninja were about to engage when they were all engulfed in crystal.

Guren smirked "Hah! Kill me? What a laugh. I can just crystalize the water and kill you insantly!"

However Menma quickly broke through the crystal, and observed his teammates "Hrm, your crystal is strong but I am able to send my chakra out in waves, disrupting their molecules and destroying it."

Guren frowned but slowly smirked "It dosnt matter, I can still just kill you here. Unless I die the crystal surrounding your teammates won't be released."

Menma got into his stance and spoke "Then I will not hold back."

Guren dashed towards him with her crystal bladed tonfas. Menma quickly activated one of his new jutsu "Webbed arena!" Chakra strings flared around him and began to expand off his tenketsu points, connecting everywhere on the lake, forming a large interconnecting web around the two combatants.

Guren looked around in confusion 'These strings are just chakra, how can they do anything?' She cut one with one of her blades and was shocked when the blade stuck to the chakra and could not move.

Menma smirked a bit "This is one of my best techniques, I can use chakra strings to create an arena around an area, giving it special effects. In this case, each string is highly condensed and only I am allowed to pass through them."

Guren growled and dismissed her tonfas, she would have to defeat him at long range then, she flashed through some handseals and spoke loudly "In that case, take this! Jade Crystal Dragon!" A large Japanese styled dragon erupted from the lake and broke through several strands of chakra. However the dragon was tremendously slower than normal and Menma avoided it with ease. He decided to take it up a notch and released a shadow clone in the forest and entered sage mode level 1. Four bladed spider legs erupted from his back and his eyes turned red with slits.

Guren took a step back after seeing this form, it looked incredibly frightening to see it so suddenly.

Menma smirked and jumped, the four spider legs attaching to the web as he moved quickly in the air, he went through four handseals and his cheeks bulged as he thought "Neurotoxic Shots!" He spat shots of purple poison rapidly at the dodging woman.

Guren growled as she had to dodge the poison in a very limited area, she had already formed a crystal shield but the poison seemed to eat right through it. She saw another coming from the senjutsu user and it barely touched her shoulder as she dodged. She winced as she felt the acid on her shoulder and quickly tried to wash it off in the lake. Unfortunately this allowed Menma an opening to jump down from his web and pierced both her shoulders with his spider like appendages.

Guren wordlessly screamed as she felt poison from the appendages course through her veins. As her vision faded she felt sad that she would no longer be of use to Orochimaru, and that Yakimura would most likely die to the Konoha ninja.

Menma sighed as he removed the appendages from the female's body. It saddened him that he had to end the last crystal user.

He looked at the boy that Guren had brought with her and sighed, what would he do with the child now?

The boy looked at the corpse of his mother-figure and shock until he began to hyper-ventilate, releasing all his chakra as he did so.

Menma stumbled back from the force of the chakra and nearly ran into the un-crystalized teammates. Soon the entire lake grew stormy as the massive figure of the Sanbi rose from the depths. Anko turned to Menma "Quickly, the urn! We must use this opportunity to seal the Bijuu!"

Menma nodded and unsealed the urn, but was shocked when a giant wave came crashing down on them, forcing them all to dodge. The Bijuu seemed to be enraged from the child's chakra and was causing the lake to become extremely choppy. He was thrown around a bit by the water and gasped as he lost hold on the large urn, and it crashed upon the rocks, broken to pieces.

Yakumo shouted above the rain "Damnit! What do we do now?!"

Lee looked at his three teammates before steeling himself, "Seal it in me."

Menma quickly turned to his teammate "Are you crazy! We have no idea what sealing a bijuu into you could do! You could explode!"

Lee looked serious "Or it can be contained in me. I have no chakra in my coils, only my core. The bijuu chakra will be able to rest easily into me."

Anko observed her former genin critically and sighed "Alright, we have no other choice." She took out the seal and turned to her other genin "You will need to keep my safe during the sealing, if it is disrupted anything could happen."

Menma and Yakumo nodded and began to engage the Sanbi. Menma went through handseals and the blue chakra strings still around the lake expanded and began to weave around the three tails.

Yakumo went through some handseals and made several clones of them all around the lake, hopefully to distract the Sanbi if it escaped from the web.

Anko had already transferred the seal from the paper to Lee's stomach and was flashing through the required 100 handseals, careful not to mess one up.

Menma was sweating heavily, he had to keep his balance on the turbulent water but also keep fixing the strings keeping the Sanbi in place. He may have large chakra reserves but this was draining him fast. He winced as one of the tails of the beast freed itself and slammed into one of the illusions that Yakumo placed around the lake. He quickly released more chakra strings to contain the tail.

Yakumo was panting heavily as she repeatedly hammered the Sanbi with calming illusions and replicas of their team.

Anko flashed through the last five handseals and shouted out as a blue dome enveloped nearly the entire lake "8 trigrams Divine Seal!"

The Sanbi roared once more before it seemed to break apart in the dome and enter the stomach of Lee, who was shaking in pain on the small boat that Guren had brought with her. After nearly ten minutes of held breathes the chakra settled into Lee, who began to breathe easier.

Menma quickly approached the downed chunin and put a glowing green palm over his stomach. Menma closed his eyes as he saw all the problems with the chunin scroll past his closed eyelids. He opened his eyes in shock "His chakra coils are fixed!"

Anko, who was panting from the sealing looked over in shock "What?!"

Menma looked excitedly at his teammates "Lee's disease was that he could never expand his chakra coils, practically having coils of a newborn while his core continued to expand. However, with the influx of bijuu chakra traveling his veins to the seal, it forced them all open and his chakra is now circulating his body evenly. He will now be able to use jutsu."

Yakumo smiled happily "Lee definitely deserves this."

Anko picked up Lee on her back and turned to her genin "Alright, let's get back and report to the Hokage, and before any Akatsuki members show up."

Everyone nodded and disappeared in body flickers.

(Konoha)(1 Week later)

Minato rubbed his forehead tiredly as he read the report. One mission, that's all he asked for. One mission where everything didn't go to hell for his former son's team. He looked at Lee, who looked quite healthy for just having a Bijuu sealed into him. He had read the report where the urn had been broken. So they had sealed the bijuu into the green clad genin, fixing his illness. He sighed heavily "You will all be payed the proper amount for the S-ranked mission. Lee, for your sacrifice you will also earn the pay of another S-rank mission. I do not wish the information getting out that Lee is now a Jinchuuriki. Lee, you may tell Gai, but no one else. I think he will be thrilled that you can now use chakra."

Lee grinned widely and nodded. It felt strange knowing there was another being inside of him, but he would not let it hinder his life. He would live it to the fullest with the power of youth!

Minato turned to the team "When the other team that I sent to gain information from Orochimaru returns I will brief you again, take this time to rest. You have earned it."

Everyone nodded and left the office, feeling happy they managed to deny the Akatsuki one of the bijuu.

(Land of Water Lake.)

A blond man in a black cloak landed his bird on the shore and turned to his partner "It isn't here hm!"

A lolypop masked man shouted "But sempai! All the reports said it was here!"

Deidera frowned "I know Tobi! Someone must have taken it before us hm."

The now named Tobi waved his arms excitedly "Who could have taken it before us!?"

The feminine blond growled "I don't know but I'm betting it was either Orochimaru or those Leaf brats who cut off my arms hm!"

Tobi put an arm over his eye hole and began to cry "Waaah! We were so close too! I wanted to make leader-sama proud!"

Deidera deadpanned at his partner 'How the hell did he get accepted into the Akatsuki again hm?'

Unkown to the blond however Tobi had activated his mangekyou Sharingan behind his arm and was looking around the lake 'Hrm, I feel chakra from those leaf shinobi here. They must have sealed the Three Tails. I will have Zetsu observe them for now and find the jinchuuriki of the Sanbi."

Deidara made two large birds from his clay and turned to Tobi "Come on, we must report this to Leader-sama hm."

Tobi saluted "Yes Sempai!"

They flew off to inform the leader of the Akatsuki of the new development.

 **And finally done with this chapter. I had no motivation for this arc but it was necessary to improve Lee. As always if anyone has any comments or recommendations you can review below or just PM me. If you wish to insult me and everything I write you are free to do so. But be warned I will mock you back in the most humiliating of ways. Anyway the next chapter should not take as long to write.**


	24. Chapter 24: The Snake

**AN: Welcome back everyone! Time for the 24** **th** **chapter in this series. I hope I once again accomplish everyone's expectations for this chapter. As always all I know in this faction are my ocs and some original abilities. The rest is owned by really rich people with hard to pronounce names. I will now answer some questions and respond to some comments I saw.**

 **Clairent: I am not affended by your comment, as I often state in my ANs that I expect harsh critism. When I started this fic I did not want to center the entire plotline of Naruto on the fact that Kushina and Minato either made bad decisions or were controlled to neglect Naruto. I do not mind dark fics where Naruto hates either Konoha or his parents, but there are times when enough is enough and forgiveness has to enter the picture. I am currently in the section of the story where Menma is finding his path through life now that he has given up on his hatred and has almost found it. He wishes to become the greatest medic nin in the world, similar to how Canon Naruto wanted to become the strongest ninja. I once again thank you for your review, it was very clarifying for myself and hopefully others who read the reviews.**

 **Emilbootanimefreak: I mainly gave Lee the sanbi for the Turtle summoning contract. I feel the canon author of Naruto really neglected that clan. I may give him some of Yagura's abilities but im not sure yet.**

 **Wyrtha: I am not sure gai restricted himself to taijutsu because of Lee. I believe he stuck to taijutsu due to his father. Gai was already more powerful than Kakashi with only taijutsu (did you see that one tiger palm technique vs Kisame? Shesh.) He will more than likely stick to Taijutsu but will show more of the Turtle clan with his abilities. It will definitely be a challenge to combine a speed specialist with one of the slowest animals on earth, but a fun one.**

 **LordGhostStriker: I felt a great sense of smugness seeing that comment. Finally someone admits my story is original! Lol.**

 **Anyway hope everyone enjoys this chapter :D.**

 **Chapter 24:**

 **The Snake**

Shio and Mito walked down the path to the village gates discussing their latest mission. Shio clenched her fist and spoke "I can't wait to find this informant of Orochimaru and string all the information we can from him. That snake needs to pay for all he has done."

Mito nodded "Yes, I hope our new teammates are able fighters. I would not like for our new members to be weak."

Shio nodded and spoke "Yes I hope so as well. By the way…"

Mito nodded "Yes I already know." In a flash Shio drew her sword and cut down the two ink beasts that tried to ambush her and Mito disappeared. She swung her sword in graceful arcs and cut down the other ink drawings before looking at the rooftop where the unkown assailant was sitting. The enemy was pale with black short hair in an odd shinobi outfit. The boy seemed somewhat surprised that his creations had been so easily defeated before being startled when Mito appeared behind him, her broken blade inches from his neck.

Shio also disappeared from her spot and re-appeared in front of the pale boy. She glared at him "Who are you and why did you attack us."

The unknown ninja smiled a clearly fake smile "I wanted to test my new teammates. I must say it is clear that you both have very large penises."

It was a clear example that laws of physics did not exist in fiction when one can face plant on the ground while not moving. Shio grew a large tickmark on her forehead and punched the punk in the face. Hard.

(A few minutes later)

Yamato of the Mokuton rubbed his forehead as he saw his first team. The original members of team 7 were both looking angry while Sai was smiling his fake smile, with a large black eye on his face.

He looked at Mito and knew he would get an honest answer if he asked her "Explain."

Mito looked completely composed and serious as she answered "He accused us of having big dicks."

Yamato deadpanned at the girl. How could she say something so shameless so easily? He looked at Sai and sighed as he saw no argument on his face. He rubbed his face with his palm and spoke "We are now a team. And as a team that means we do not torment or hit each other. Understand?"

Mito and Sai nodded but Shio still looked obstinate. He decided to nip this in the bud and put on "The Face." Shio blanched as her new team leader's face took on a scary turn and a flashlight seemed to turn on from nowhere. Yamato stared at his team and spoke "Understand?"

All three teammates nodded rapidly in the face of "The Face." Yamato nodded satisfied and spoke to his team "Now, let us head out, we can discuss our styles of combat and personalities on the way to build up teamwork."

The three new teammates nodded and they jumped out into the surrounding forest.

(Tenchi Bridge)

Team Yamato hid in the brushes overseeing the bridge. They had journeyed a long way from Konoha for the past week. They had briefly stopped at a roadside in where they got to know each other a bit more. They had also discovered their new team captain had the wood release bloodline limit. It had surprised Shio and Mito to know that the average looking man held one of the strongest nature manipulation in existence.

However eventually they had reached their destination and were overlooking the bridge where Sasori was going to meet his contact. Yamato had created a perfect likeliness of Sasori to extract information from the contact.

Shio observed the meeting from the hillside while keeping an eye on her teammate, his emotions were confusing her. He had always felt calm and emotionless, but now it seems he was anticipating something, but how could he be anticipating something when the informant had already revealed himself as Kabuto?

She widened her eyes as Orochimaru appeared on the bridge next to Kabuto. Yamato gave the signal and all three appeared on the bridge. Shio grew angry looking at the man who had ruined so many lives and corrupted Sasuke. Unknown to her at the time but her eyes began to glow purple as her anger grew.

Orochimaru smirked at Shio and Mito, knowing they were the previous teammates of Sasuke. The snake observed the group and spoke "Ahh, there you are kukuku. It's so nice to see so many old friends. Arent you going to greet me, Shio?"

Shio gritted her teeth to stop herself from retorting, she had to keep her cool in front of the snake sannin. However his next words blew those thoughts out of the water "I guess Sasuke has surpassed you by now. He never seems to mention you or Konoha. It's seems he has forgotten you all entirely. Such a shame kukuku."

Shio's rage that had been boiling in her stomach erupted at hearing the name of her former teammate from the slimy snake. She never hated anyone as more as she did at that moment. She was about to retort when her rage seemed to spike and everything went dark for a second.

(In the Seal)

Shio opened her eyes to see the place she had visited once before on her training trip with Jiraiya, the seal of the Kyuubi. Or at least, the seal for the chakra of the Kyuubi. Neither she nor Jiraiya knew where the consciousness of the Kyuubi had gone. She frowned and saw the whirling mass of energy had disappeared and in its place was an almost exact replica of herself. Except this Shio had bone white hair, extremely pale skin, and glowing purple eyes. The doppelganger also wore a dark purple version of her own plated dress. She approached cautiously and asked her mimic "Who, or what are you?"

The mirror image of her smirked and answered **"I do not have a name, however, I am the better half of you. I am the embodiment of all of your dark emotions you have neglected for so long."**

Shio grew confused "Neglected? What do you mean?"

The being explained " **You have never once been very angry or mean to other people. The only time you truly felt dark emotions was when you finally figured out our dear brother was abandoned and facing the snake pedo outside at the moment. Those emotions helped me manifest myself long enough to enter the Kyuubi's chakra, basking in the dark emotions embroiling within it. It took a while, but I finally absorbed all the energy into myself, creating this body."**

Shio frowned "So what does this mean for me. I am happy you have your own body and all but were inside my mindscape."

Her mimic grinned " **Isn't it obvious? We fight for control of this body. And trust me, I have more power than you can even imagine. You can't win. So for now I will be content killing that slime of a snake and making life interesting for you. But once you're strong enough to give me a decent fight we will battle for control. I hope you entertain me when that day comes."**

Shio grew alarmed "Why do we have to fight? Can't we create a different body for you?"

The dark side of her emotions frowned **"No, it is impossible. Despite you neglecting me for so long I am still a part of you. If we were to separate you would lose every emotion that is even remotely dark. Anger, greed, pride, and even love."**

Shio frowned "How is love a dark emotion?"

Her mimic chuckled darkly " **Love is spawned from lust. So to love you must host many dark emotions to feel it. You would need to feel pleasure, lust, envy, and possessiveness to feel love, which you would not be able to do if we separated. No, it has to be this way. Only one can control this body and I assure you, it will be me. But as I said, for now I will just entertain myself by killing the retched snake outside of this body."**

Shio tried to exit her mindscape but felt her eyes widened when she couldn't. She looked at her dark half who was still smirking at her " **I will let you see what is happening in the real world, trust me it will be a treat."**

(Outside of the Seal)

Shio had her hair covering her eyes and her shoulders were shaking. Orochimaru smirked, thinking he had broken the girl "What's wrong? Feeling sad that your precious friend has forgotten and surpassed you?"

Shio kept shaking and began to laugh, surprising everyone on the bridge since the voice was not Shio's usual voice, and instead her voice sounded evil and echoing " **HAHAHAHA! What a riot. You actually think I care what happens to that duck assed loser?"** Shio lifted her head and revealed her purple glowing eyes. Her hair also seemed to be growing paler as it changed from a sunny yellow to bone white.

Orochimaru stopped smirking and frowned as he observed the girl. This was not what he expected. He had expected the girl to go into the initial Jinchuuriki state, allowing him to put the five pronged seal on her again. He licked his lips as he looked at the girl, he would love to experiment on her to see how this was possible. Unfortunately he did not have a lot of time to be idle "Well this has been a fascinating conversation but I think I will just kill you all now."

Shio smirked evilly " **Oh I doubt you will be able to."**

Yamato looked confusedly at his subordinate, why was she acting so strangely "Shio, what's wrong, you are not acting like yourself."

Shio glanced back at her sensei before smirking " **Sorry captain, Shio is not here at the moment. You can call me…Yami."** She then ignored the questioning look from the mokuton user and three dark orbs appeared around her. This was her fighting style from training inside the seal for so long. She gathered spheres of the Kyuubi's corrosive chakra and used them for offense and defense. One touch from these orbs and the body would be infected by the tainted chakra. She motioned with her arms and at the speed of a bullet, the three orbs attacked the snake sannin.

Orochimaru dodged the three orbs easily and was about to make a snide comment to the girl when his chest was blasted through by the orbs returning to the possessed Shio's side. Orochimaru's body twitched and a healed Orochimaru exited through his old body's mouth.

Yami smirked " **A disgusting tactic, fitting for such vermin as you."** She formed two more orbs around her body and spoke menacingly " **Regenerate from this snake!"**

Orochimaru knew he was in a bind, whatever happened to the girl in front of him increased her power significantly. He had to retreat. He began to run away as Shio floated into the air to give chase " **You won't escape my grasp!"**

Yamato tried to stop her with his mokuton but she was too fast and chased after the fleeing sannin.

(Forest)

Orochimaru smirked as he ran through the forest, he should be able to get away easily using the cover of the trees.

Or so he thought before orbs began to rain down on him, crushing trees and flora as they sought him out. He cursed audibly as he had to dodge an orb aimed at his head.

(In the air)

Yami smirked as she observed the worm try and dodge her orbs. However she was quickly getting bored of this, and felt Shio gradually working her way back to controlling their body. She decided to go all out and summoned hundreds of dark orbs around her and sent them crashing into the forest in a dark rain.

(Tenchi Bridge)

The members of team Yamato gaped as they saw the orbs falling on the trees, decimating the forest and creating a large crater in the ground. Yamato was forced to use his wood release to secure the bridge and to ensure it did not collapse.

(Above the forest)

Yami smirked and decided to end it " **And now for the finale…"** She cupped her palms together as if in prayer and slowly separating them, forming a large orb, almost the size of a large building. She felt the strain of the technique and knew she would have to recover for some time for this stunt, she was not yet used to her powers and over did it, wasting much of her chakra. She released the orb and it slammed into the earth with the force of a meteor, utterly destroying the surrounding forest, the bridge, and left behind a large crater in the earth. Yami slowly drifted down to the bottom of the crater and smirked a bit, believing she had ended the snake for good.

However a head erupted from the dirt and shot a sword at her. Thinking quickly she formed a black shield in front of her and was pushed away from the crater and crashed back next to her light side's teammates. She grunted in pain as the head retreated, obviously returning to its body to escape.

She frowned as six wooden totems sprouted from the ground around her and began suppressing her chakra. She sighed and released control of Shio to rest, she had her fun. Now she could let her weaker half deal with the rest.

(One hour later)

Shio awoke sat up quickly, hoping the events in her mindscape had been a dream. However as she sensed the emotions of her teammates she knew it wasn't. They were afraid of her. However she frowned when she sensed Sai was not among them. From watching through the eyes of her Yami she knew he did not get hit by any of the attacks so where was he?

She sat up slowly and spoke to her teammates who were observing her closely "Where is Sai, he wasn't hurt was he?"

Yamato gained a dark look on his face "No, its worse. Sai has defected to the enemy. I have a wood clone following them but we have more pressing issues at the moment. What happened back there?"

Shio sighed and began to explain "It seems that the dark half of my emotions that I have been unintentionally neglecting for all this time. She took refuge inside the Kyuubi's chakra and absorbed it, gaining her own conscious and powers. She seems to want control of my body."

Both Yamato and Mito gave her looks of pity and Mito rubbed her back "Don't worry, Hokage-sama or Jiraiya-sama will know what to do."

Yamato nodded "Yes, I have no doubt Hokage-sama will be able to help, but for now we need to focus on the mission: To retrieve information on the Akatsuki, and find the traitors Sasuke and Sai. Understood?"

Both Mito and Shio nodded, determined to complete the mission "Yes Taicho!"

(Orochimaru's Hideout – Entrance)

Shio, Mito, and Yamato crouched outside the hidden entrance to one of Orochimaru's hideouts. Shio had her eyes closed and her hands in a handsign. She was focusing all her attention on sensing the people inside the base. She opened her eyes and looked at her teammates "There are not many people in the hide out. Just Orochimaru, Kabuto, Sai, and Sasuke. It seems this is an unused hideout."

Yamato nodded "That is good, we can sneak in much easier. We will split into two teams. The first will break into Orochimaru's office and steal all information you can. The other team will go after Sai and Sasuke. I will go after the information while you two go after the traitors."

Both Mito and Shio nodded. Yamato pressed his hands on the ground and wood carved a square entrance into the hideout and the three remaining members of team Yamato split up once inside.

(Yamato)

Yamato melded into the wood in the wall, effectively becoming undetectable and moved through the walls, searching for Orochimaru's office. He traveled through the walls until he entered Orochimaru's room. He approached the desk and instead of opening the drawers he sunk his hand through the wood and sealed all of the documents, he did not want to risk any traps from opening the handles. He saw the folder that Sai had given Orochimaru and opened it and his eyes widened as he saw all of the black ops ANBU member's information. It seems his suspicions were correct about Danzo assisting Sai's betrayal. There is no way Danzo's prodigy would be able to have access to this type of information without the elder's direct assistance.

He sealed the folder along with all the other documents inside a pre prepared storage scroll and looked around the office for anything else important. He saw a large container filled with preservation fluid with a severed hand with a ring resting on the middle finger. He observed the ring carefully and noticed it was similar to the reports from Sasori that claimed the puppeteer also wore a ring. He sealed the hand and was about to meet up with his team before he felt a large explosion in the distance and rushed to support his team.

(Mito and Shio)

Shio led the way through the corridors, sensing where Sai was in the base. They had decided to go after Sai before Sasuke. They eventually arrived at his room and they both nodded to each other and kicked the door down.

Sai, who was currently resting waiting for his next orders from Orochimaru was startled when his door was kicked in and the two teammates he betrayed stepped in.

Both Shio and Mito cracked their knuckles as they stared at the traitor who had been so annoying on the way here.

(Five Minutes later)

With a black eye and a few more bruises the Sai was tied up and dragged behind the two Konoha ninja. Sai contemplated what to do. His orders from Danzo were to infiltrate Orochimaru's hideout to kill Sasuke and take his eyes. But now it seems he had been captured and was more than likely going to be held for treason on their return.

He had met with Sasuke earlier and figured out this was a suicide mission. Sasuke's power was greater than even his master. He had accepted that and was preparing to at least make a decent attempt at it when his former teammates apprehended him.

He knew if he played his cards right he may be able to get out of this alive. He looked at Shio and decided to reason with his captor "I met Sasuke earlier."

Both Shio and Mito widened their eyes and glared at the traitor. Mito hoisted the pale teenager up "Then tell us everything you know about him, anything will help when we eventually find him."

Sai nodded and began to explain.

(Flashback)

Sai was walking with Kabuto and Orochimaru when they stopped outside of a room. Kabuto opened the door and spoke to a shadowy figure "Sasuke-kun, we have a guest."

Sai twitched at the name 'So this is Sasuke. I cannot see him clearly but I can feel his power. He outstrips me entirely and maybe even Lord Danzo.'

The figure opened his eyes and revealed glowing green irises with three black tomoe spinning in a circle "Who is he?"

Kabuto smiled and introduced the pale boy "His name is Sai. He hails from Konoha just as you did. He was even on the same team as your former teammates. Maybe you two could catch up some time, discuss the past."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and looked at the Konoha traitor.

Sai suddenly felt as if he was being run through with many spears as he stared into Sasuke's eyes.

Orochimaru seeing this stepped forward "Now Sasuke, do not kill him. He was very helpful in providing information about Konoha. Sai dropped to the ground and Sasuke closed his eyes "Leave me then, I must get back to my training."

Kabuto frowned at the disrespect to Lord Orochimaru but followed the snake sannin and Konoha traitor out of the room.

(End Flashback)

Shio frowned, Sasuke's Sharingan had been red for as long as she had known him except for the battle in the Valley of the End. It would seem his eyes had stayed green. From what Sai informed them, it seemed his genjutsu ability had dramatically increased as well. In the past Sasuke never used genjutsu because his brother specialized in it. But now it seemed he would do anything for an advantage.

Mito looked ahead again and spoke "Shio sensed him in the same room you spoke of, so we will meet him for ourselves soon."

(Sasuke's room)

Shio and Mito nodded to each other before kicking the door down and they both paused when they did not see anyone in the room. They looked around confused but Shio gasped as she sensed Sasuke on the roof of the room before it exploded.

Shio quickly drew her sword and swung it in an arc around them, creating a barrier of wind that reflected any stray rocks or boulders that would crush them.

After the room finished collapsing Shio and Mito unshielded their eyes to see that the entire roof has collapsed around them and Sasuke was standing above them. Their former teammate had changed a lot during their three years apart. He was much taller and had grown his bangs more. They now framed his face with the back of his hair still sticking out. He wore a skintight black shirt covered by metal chest armor. He wore metal plates over his shinobi styled pants and also wore combat boots.

Shio glared at him and muttered "Sasuke."

Sasuke stared down at his two former teammates and spoke out loud "Shio….Mito. I hope you two have improved since our time in Konoha."

Mito growled and disappeared, re-appearing behind the traitorous Uchiha "Why don't I show you how much we have improved!" She swung her sword at his neck but the Uchiha intercepted the sword with a glowing green hand and kicked the girl away, just in time to block a sword thrust from Shio. Green lightning sparked from his hands and formed two short spears in his hands.

The three fighters showed the pinnacle of grace as they flowed from one move to the next, deflecting, parrying, thrusting, and swinging their weapons at each other almost too fast for the observer to see. Sasuke, even with his improved Sharingan, was finding it difficult to read their movements. It was proof to the two girl's skill with the sword that they were able to match him in combat.

Mito growled as her thrust was deflected by one of the strange glowing spears. She decided to step it up and a green glow appeared around her and she shouted in rage as her sword rebuilt itself and she attacked Sasuke with much more ferocity and power.

Shio narrowed her eyes as her swing was deflected and decided to step up her attacks. Her sword glowed blue as four chakra swords surrounded her nodochi and gathered wind chakra around it, making it extremely sharp.

Sasuke frowned at seeing both attacks and extended his spears to full and summoned many more around himself and was mentally controlling them as he deflected the much stronger attacks from his two former teammates. The Uchiha had to constantly dodge Mito's almost rabbit like attacks while blocking Mito's heavy swings.

Soon all three fighters were locked in a three way block as Sasuke tried to force his two spears against the crossed blades of his two teammates. Soon the combined force of Mito and Shio pushed Sasuke back and he was thrown away a distance before he righted himself and landed on the ground. He frowned at the two and decided to change tactics. He adjusted his grip on his spears and threw them both after the other. Each spear broke apart in midair becoming nearly a hundred spears raining down on the two ninja.

Shio put both hands on her sword and pointed it behind her, yelling out a war cry she swung her sword like a bat, creating a huge wall of wind that blocked each spear of light. The raining spears created a large lightshow as each miniature spear exploded.

Sasuke created a two sided spear and rushed back into the combat, wielding the spear as a bo-staff as he swung it around at the two swordswomen.

However before the fight could continue wood tendrils shot from the ground and tried to bind the Uchiha.

Sasuke having sensed the chakra due to his Sharingan jumped away just in time. He observed his new opponent and idly wondered what happened to Kakashi. He sighed and decided to do one of his strongest moves to end this quickly. He really did not wish to fight his former teammates.

He gripped his spear tighter and it began to glow dark green before his arm was grabbed by his mentor, Orochimaru.

Shio glared at the snake sannin and the grey haired medic. Orochimaru smirked and spoke in his condescending voice "Now Sasuke, do not kill them. They may be useful to us in the future."

Sasuke glared at Orochimaru "What use could they be?"

Kabuto fixed his glasses "Even if it is just one member, they have managed to take down a member of the Akatsuki. By keeping them alive you will have a better chance of gaining your revenge on your brother."

Sasuke's glare lessened as he acknowledged the medics point. He looked at his former team apathetically as they prepared to shunshin and said "Later." They all disappeared into the wind.

Shio glared at the spot for a few more seconds before sighing and turning to her teammates "I do not sense them anymore, they got away."

Yamato sighed "At least we got what we came for. I managed to find all the documents that Orochimaru has on the Akatsuki and his other bases."

Mito nodded and then turned to Sai who was still tied up "We also managed to catch the traitor Sai."

Yamato nodded "Yes but I believe I have discovered a deeper plot behind his betrayal."

Sai kept his face blank t these words but he could not help the tensing of his muscles at the words. It seemed Danzo was not as well hidden as he thought.

Mito nodded "Then let us return to Konoha to report our findings."

(Konoha)

Minato read the report seriously "It seems that as time goes on, more mysteries are created as more are revealed."

Team Yamato shifted a bit as their Hokage thought on the information he had been given. Minato looked at Shio "This…Yami of yours. I am surprised that an aspect of your personality could gain sentience like this."

Shio winced and nodded "Yes, despite not having control I can still feel her in my mind, sometimes speaking to me."

Minato frown deepened "What does she tell to you? She doesn't try to tempt you to do anything evil does she?"

Shio sweatdropped "She doesn't tell me to do evil things, but she does comment on the people around me sometimes…"

Minato raised an eyebrow "Such as?"

Shio's sweatdrop grew larger "Well, she is currently calling you a blond haired pansy man."

Everyone in the room sweatdropped. Shio sighed as Yami's voice appeared in her head " **It's true! He looks like a girl!"**

Yamato sighed "For now we will not seal up this personality. It could just make the situation worse and she has yet to do anything too detrimental…other than destroying several miles of forest."

Shio frowned but accepted the point, Yami had been useful in the fight against Orochimaru.

Minato sighed and picked up the file that Sai had given to Orochimaru "This on the other hand, needs to be looked into immediately. There is no chance that a chunin ninja, no matter how skilled, would be able to access this information. The only people allowed this information are myself, a few select ninja, and the elders. I trust every elite jonin with this information, and the only known Elder connected to Sai, is Danzo."

Yamato frowned at that name, his suspicions had been correct when he had seen the documents.

Shio looked confused "Who is Danzo?"

Minato sighed "Someone I hoped you would never cross paths with. He is one of the shinobi elders, and one of the most powerful ninja from the third shinobi war. However in recent years he has turned into something of a war hawk, constantly pushing for a more militant agenda for Konoha. We have suspected him of underground dealings before, but did not have any concrete proof. However, with these documents we may have a chance to take him down. It will take a while to prepare a case so you will all be rewarded S-class mission payment and a week off, you have earned it."

Team Yamato nodded and exited the room.

(Uzumaki-Namikaze estate)

Shio made her way to her room and collapsed on her bed, thinking of her encounter with Sasuke. It seemed the friend she had known since childhood was dead. She saw no love or recognition in those glowing green orbs, only hatred and apathy. She felt a sense of dread that the next time they met…

It would more than likely be to the death.

 **AN2:** **And that is chapter 24. I would like to thank everyone who has followed this story and reviewed. I would also like to apologize for some of the mistakes in my story. This is my first serious fanfiction so I am new to many of the small details that would make this story better. As Clairant stated in the reviews I lost the feeling of a neglect fic and turned it more into a regular fanfiction. Anyway, I hope I can still keep all the readers entertained with what I am writing. Soon I'll start to deviate more from canon since all the core entry parts of Shippudden have been taken care of. Once again ty for all your support and as always if you have any questions or comments, feel free to let me know.**


	25. Chapter 25: The Cloud Hunt

**AN: Greetings everyone. Time for the 25** **th** **chapter in this series. When I began writing this series I was expecting something like 20 chapters but guess I underestimated the length. Anyway I will keep writing until it is finished. But for now I'll answer some questions/reviews in the comments.**

 **I also have been getting some private messages about if I'm going to write another abandoned Naruto fic after this one. I was actually planning on doing one after I finish this fic. It will more than likely feature a dark Naruto instead of grey. His powers will be more evil and supernatural and not forgive his family. If you have any recommendations I would love to hear them, but I already have the main theme of it figured out.**

 **LordGhostStriker: Yami is currently a pseudo bijuu in Shio's mind. She is not restricted to the seal due to not being sealed by the Shinigami.**

 **Swordmanwielder: Menma's mission to capture the sanbi occurred at the same time as this mission. This chapter will feature both teams.**

 **Apprentice-kun/Rain-Chan: I am not sure how my story reminds you of that story, but I have read that fanfiction and liked the plot of it. I hope you continue reading and enjoy my story** **J** **.**

 **Yagaaaa: Chap 24 is prob the only chapter that will not feature Menma in some way. Canon naruto jumped POV's more than any other story I've read so I tried to do the same thing in my story.**

 **Guest: Yes, Shio has Yami. Yes, Sasuke has his power of vengeance. But let us not forget that Menma can now currently use super strength, has great medical abilities, has power over spiders and can go into spider senjutsu, use acid ninjutsu, and great has taijutsu abilities. I feel as if I make his powers even more op, they will make them seem cheap and completely op.**

 **Anyway let's get to the story.**

 **Chapter 25**

 **The Dawn Hunt**

(Konoha – Minato's office)

Team 7 and 9 stood in Minato's office awaiting orders. Kakashi had finally recovered and was now led his team consisting of Shio, Mito, and Yamato. Team seven was the same as ever as they looked at the Hokage for instruction.

Minato set down eight bingo book entrees, all showing S-ranked rogue ninja. He looked up and explained "From the information given to us by Yamato from Orochimaru's base we have been able to identify all the members of the Akatsuki. The Akatsuki is now comprised of Hidan the Immortal, Kakazu of the five hearts, Dediara the explosive expert, Kisame the Monster of the Mist, Itachi the clan slayer, Tobi the phantom joker, Konan the Angel of Rain, and the Amekage Pein."

Everyone looked at the separate bingo book entries that Orochimaru had created and read the bios and information on each person and grimaced slightly. Each person on the list was extremely skilled.

Minato waited for each person to finish reading the information before speaking "I am combining both your teams as a hunt down and kill team for the Akatsuki."

Kakashi frowned "How will we track the members of the Akatsuki, these ninjas may have different specialties but any S class rogue nin knows how to hide a trail."

Minato smirked "We will use this." He held up a ring that Yamato had taken from Orochimaru's hideout "This ring is imbued with the chakra of each member of the Akatsuki. I can tell there was a summoning seal on the ring to retrieve it in case it was lost, but Orochimaru seemed to have disabled this feature. With this Menma will be able to track each member of the Akatsuki with your spider technique you told me in your report."

Menma nodded, he took the ring and closed his eyes as he looked through the eyes of hundreds of spiders, following the chakra signatures that were inside the ring.

(Forest path in the land of fire)

Menma could see two cloaked men walking down a path in the direction of the fire temple, Kakazu and Hidan.

(Land of Stone cave)

Through the rain Menma could see the two Akatsuki members resting inside a cave.

(Land of Rain)

Menma could see Tobi discussing something with an orange haired man with purple eyes and a blue haired woman. So these were Pein and Konan.

He could not find Zetsu so he assumed the plant man was underground as described in Orochimaru's journals.

(Minato's office)

Menma opened his eyes and spoke "The closest Akatsuki members are Hidan and Kakuzu, they are currently headed to the fire temple."

Minato nodded and spoke to the group "You both are no longer team 7 and team 9, from now on you will be team Dawn Hunter. I am assigning this team its first mission. You are to go to the fire temple and kill Hidan and Kakuzu. In addition, you are to retrieve their rings and seal them within this scroll, it carries an anti-seal barrier on it to prevent the leader of the Akatsuki from retrieving it."

Each member of the newly formed team saluted "Hai!"

(Village Gates)

Team Dawn stood in front of the gates and discussed strategy. Menma stepped forward and spoke "From the reports from Orochimaru, Hidan is a cultist who somehow gained immortality from a false god."

Anko nodded "And Kakazu of the Five hearts is an almost immortal man who uses a Kinjutsu to steal hearts and increase his lifespan. If Orochimaru's reports are to be trusted then he can use each heart to fight along-side him."

Mito frowned "Hidan should not be a problem since he wont know we know that he is immortal so he will most likely let us attack him some to demonstrate his immortality. The reports claimed that he is very arrogant so we can use that to our advantage and take him out early."

Menma nodded "Yes, just because he cannot be killed does not mean that poison and seals will not work on him. If we cut off a body part seal it into a scroll so it cannot be re-attached."

Kakashi stepped forward "Alright let us head out, we need to hurry to prevent them from attacking the Fire Temple, which appears to be their target."

Everyone nodded and disappeared into the forest, moving quickly to the place where Menma sensed the two Akatsuki members.

(Land of Fire – Road to the Fire Temple)

Hidan and Kakuzu were walking through the land of fire. They were taking their time since they had already turned in their assigned jinchurriki, the two tails. They were headed to the fire temple to gain information on the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki and collect bounties to fund the Akatsuki.

They were in an argument about not wasting time and the merits of spending hours of the day praying to a possible fake god when Kunai with explosive tags rained down upon the two Akatsuki members.

Both rogue nin were easily able to dodge the explosives by jumping in different directions, which allowed team dawn to split the two members up before they could group back up.

(Mito, Yamato, Anko and Menma vs Hidan)

Hidan glared at the three heathens who had interrupted his passionate discussion about Jashin. He rested his large scythe on his shoulder and spoke arrogantly "Who are you heathens to stand in the way of lord Jashin's greatest weapon!"

Mito dashed forward and forced Hidan to block with his scythe before saying "We are the heathens who will be taking your head."

Menma took out of a seal on his wrist a large crossbow. He had altered its design after the years and made it so the arrows were pure venom and shot as fast as he pumped chakra into it. He allowed Mito to take the close combat and jumped in the trees to attack Hidan from above while spinning chakra threads around the woods to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the area. He also occasionally shot some webs at Hidan to distract him.

Yamato was also doing his best to distract the Jashinist with his wood style. Either by binding the raging anti-priest or protecting his allies.

Mito was using her signature style and was dashing around Hidan and leaping away from any retaliating strike. Despite Hidan's wild style with his scythe he was still experienced enough to block most of her strikes. However Mito had the advantage of using a sword sword against a scythe. A scythe was not designed for close combat but rather to keep opponent away from you while dealing superficial wounds, which was the key to Hidan's style of combat. However Mito relies heavily on evasive maneuvers and dodging in combination with her sword play, creating a perfect counter for the immortal Jashin worshiper.

It was unsurprising that eventually Hidan slipped up and allowed Anko to sneak up behind him and cut off his head with her wrist blades.

Hidan's head lay on the ground still screaming profanities at the Konoha ninjas "Damn you heathens! Lord Jashin will bathe in all your blood! The world will burn before him! And I will be right at his side murdering you motherfu-" His rant was cut short when Mito and Anko sealed the head and the body within separate scrolls.

Menma jumped down and sealed the Akatsuki ring in the special scroll prepared beforehand and looked at his teammates "Let's go and help the other group."

They nodded and jumped into the trees.

(Shio, Kakashi, Yakumo, Lee vs Kakazu)

Kakazu narrowed his eyes at his four opponents. He had figured out early that they were trying to separate them but that idiot Hidan had fallen for it so easily. What he was trying to figure out was how they found them so easily. They had stayed off the radar for the past few days after they had managed to capture the two tails. Either this group was obscenely lucky, or they had a method to track them down. He had to win this fight and inform his superior of this. He decided to go serious from the get go.

The masked rogue nin's back pulsed and four beasts made out of wires erupted from his back. Each beast had a different colored mask to signify its element.

Shio drew her sword and the wind around her increased in intensity and she dashed forward along with Lee who had decided to engage the beasts while Yakumo and Kakashi dealt with Kakuzu.

(Shio, Lee vs Masked Beasts)

The beasts turned to the approaching ninja and opened their mouths and each launched highly destructive beams of their respective elements.

Lee appeared before the attacks and ran through four handseals before calling out "Might style! Stance of the turtle!" around his body a green shield made out of hexagrams completely negated the attack from the fire and water beams. This style of combat was a defensive Might family tradition that was taught by the turtle clan. He had only recently learned the chakra based moves since he had the Sanbi sealed inside of him.

Shio swung her sword in a wide arc and a wall of wind intercepted the gust of wind and the beam of lightning from the other two masks. She dashed forward after the attack and jumped high in the air and slashed repeatedly, sending waves of razor sharp wind cuts at the two masked beasts. The wind based beasts managed to negate some of the cuts directed at him but the lightning beast was quickly sliced into pieces.

Lee appeared behind her back and she glanced and saw that the fire mask was smashed to pieces and that Lee had what appeared to be boxing gloves made out of glowing green hexagon squares. Now it was just the water and wind beasts left. She nodded slightly to Lee and jumped into the air, letting the air propel her upwards. Lee punched forward where she once was and launched the boxing glove at the wind beast, knocking it back a ways and then turned around and punched the feet of Shio, launching her forward at extreme speeds.

Shio spun around in midair, wind gathering around her and she spun like a top through the lightning beast. She righted herself and landed gracefully on the ground. Behind her the lightning mask seemed to be perfectly fine until the entire beast shifted and slid in half.

Lee did not even look at the direction Shio went in and jumped into the air and formed a fist "Might style! Strength of the Tortoise!" He formed a giant green hexagonal fist and launched it at the wind beast. The beast on the ground retaliated with a large gust of wind and the two attacks clashed until Lee twisted mid-air and unleashed another giant green fist against the defense. The wind wall was breached and the mask was completely obliterated by the two combined attacks.

Both Lee and Yakumo nodded and then ran to assist Kakashi and Yakumo.

(Yakumo, Kakashi vs Kakuzu's main body)

Kakuzu frowned as he was separated from his wire beasts. His opponents did not even look surprised that he had used this technique. Something was definitely wrong here. He also knew he was at a disadvantage against Kakashi of the Sharingan. His main heart was an earth style heart which was countered by Kakashi's lightning style. He also recognized Ibiki Morino's apprentice from the Bingo Books. The girl was supposed to be very sadistic with her illusions so he had to be careful. He heard the chirping of birds and refocused on the battle and had to dodge Kakashi's famous Chidori. The rogue-nin turned his fist to stone and tried to retaliate against the Jonin but his fist passed through the Jonin. His eyes widened and quickly fluctuated his chakra, just in time to intercept another Chidori that would have entered his heart. However he suffered a harsh cut on his side and several burns from deflecting the lightning jab. He grunted "You will pay for that."

Kakashi jumped back and spoke "I doubt that highly." The jonin revealed his Sharingan eye and went through several handsigns before speaking loudly "Chidori Senbon!" The jonin swung his hand and needles made of lightning flew out in the hundreds at Kakuzu.

The man in question grunted and sank underground to avoid the needles and was about to prepare a counterattack when he suddenly felt very claustrophobic. He had stopped being claustrophobic when he was just a kid learning about earth style ninjutsu. So this had to be an illusion. He dispelled the genjutsu and went through several handsigns and shot spears of each all around the clearing. He could not sense any chakra signatures so he figured it was safe to rise. He slowly emerged from the ground and observed around him and frowned when he could not find his opponents. However he gasped when a lightning fist suddenly protruded from his chest. The area shifted and Yakumo appeared balancing on one of the spikes and Kakashi appeared behind him. Despite his impending death he had to be impressed. One of the hardest genjutsu to cast was hiding your chakra presence. He only wished he could warn the Akatsuki that they had some method to track them down before the darkness enveloped him.

Kakashi sighed and removed his fist from the rogue nin's chest before looking at the rest of his team who had just arrived. He saw the scrolls in the other team's hands and nodded "mission accomplished."

(Konoha)

Kakashi finished reading his report to Minato who nodded and smiled "Congratulation everyone. You have succeeded in bringing in the bounties for two S-class criminals. You will each get a portion of the bounty and be awarded S-class mission payment. Now, I want each of you to enjoy the rest of the week. However, I need Yamato, Anko and Kakashi to stay behind."

Everyone except Kakashi and Yamato left the room.

(Hokage's Office)

Minato frowned and took out the documents that Yamato had discovered from Sai. He looked at three of his most trusted jonin and spoke "I have been digging into the archives and asking around, it seems that Danzo is involving himself into pretty shady business. Human trafficking, selling information, and other such practices. I do not have enough evidence to convict him yet, but I am getting closer to having enough information to convict him."

Kakashi frowned "Danzo is notorious for covering his tracks extremely well. We will need an ironclad case to convict him."

Anko nodded in agreement "Yeah the guy's a bastard and reminds me of Orochimaru in way to many ways but he is smart as fuck. He will be able to get out of any crimes with only circumstantial evidence."

Minato nodded "Yes, and how about going against the direct order from a Hokage?"

Yamato frowned in confusion before widening his eyes in realization "You mean root!? I thought the Sandamine ordered it to disband after my incident?"

Minato sighed and took out a mask from his desk and placed it before the three jonin who gasped in surprise seeing the completely blank mask with the word NE branded on the forehead. Minato rested his head on his interlocked fingers and explained "This mask was found in a seal on Sai. The appropriate age to join NE was 10 years old, which is five years after NE was disbanded due to Sai's age of 16. I am asking you to look around the city for possible NE bases and report back to me on your findings. If we can find one base we will have enough proof to execute Danzo."

Each jonin nodded and left the room, knowing that Danzo's time in this world was coming to an end.

(Konoha Streets)

Shio walked down the market of Konoha buying some groceries when she noticed Menma up ahead and blushed a bit seeing him in casual attire. Menma now wore black pants and a red short sleeved turtleneck which went well with his long spiky black hair. She was about to approach him when her Yami spoke from her mind " **Damn! Look at that ass. You really should go after that Shio, or I may take over and take it for you."**

Shio spluttered at the voice in her head, gaining some looks from those around her and tried to compose herself and spoke in her mind "Y-yami! He is my brother I can't have a relationship with him!"

Yami scoffed " **Please! You two barely knew each other until you were thirteen. He also has undergone so many transformations I would be very surprised if there was any Uzumaki or Namikaze genes left in his body! Seriously girl, if you don't go after him I'm taking over this body early to take a stake in him before anyone else does."**

Shio blushed from head to toe thinking of her former brother like that. She could not help but feel that she had some feelings for him. Menma had grown incredibly handsome over the years and she looked up to him a lot. She could almost feel Yami's smug grin as she spoke " **So even miss pure thinks he's handsome eh? Remember I embody your dark emotions which including Lust, so you can't hide anything from me."**

Steam seemed to rise from her head as she ran away, ignoring everyone's questioning looks. She ran because she could not deny Yami that she had feelings for her brother. Inside her mind she could hear Yami laughing at her host's body situation. It was delicious irony to the dark side of Shio that the pure side of her would fall for her own brother who she ignored and forgot for thirteen years.

(With Menma)

Menma looked up and saw his former sister running away with a red face. He wondered if she was developing a fever, he hoped she wasn't because it would hamper her ability to fight against the Akatsuki. Menma did not know that inside his own seal Inari was silently laughing at Menma's denseness. The god could tell for a while that Shio was developing feelings for Menma. He had grown significantly bigger since the last time Menma appeared in his mindscape and now had five tails. He settled down still smirking, planning on ways to get the two together. They were perfect for each other after all.

 **AN: And that's a wrap for the 25** **th** **chapter. I hope everyone enjoyed the start to the romance between Shio and Menma. Btw, before anyone asks the Fire temple was not destroyed this time around and Asuma is still alive. Anyway if you have any questions or comments you are free to review. If you hate it with all of your being your free to comment on that too, I appreciate all feedback and it helps me grow as a writer.**


	26. Chapter 26: The Fall of the Snake

**AN: Greetings everyone. I am happy because we are leaving what I like to call "Boring Shippuden" and entering into more of the interesting and plot progressing arcs. I would like to once again mention that I do not own anything but my oc and original moves that are featured in this story. Anyway as always I will respond to the comments that I see particularly memorable or relevant. Or in one case completely stupid.**

 **LuffyxRobin-LuffyxNami – Normally I don't care if someone insults or flames this story. If you have your own opinion that's fine. I wrote this knowing I could not please everybody. However if you're going to make a completely inane and pointless remark about this story, do not use bad words that make yourself look like an unintelligent brute. I gave Naruto a new appearance and name to separate himself from his parents and their legacy, if you can't accept that, fine. But do not use foul language.**

 **Azrael-Garm – Your question is one that I have seen a lot. I am not giving Menma/Naruto any of Minato's or Kushina's moves. I want Naruto to be as unlike the original Naruto as possible.**

 **Anime55Kicker – I will admit I have no experience writing any romance and don't claim to be any good at it. And as I said earlier in this series there will be no lemons or limes. I feel as if that cheapens the value of the story.**

 **I also wanted to mention that I will probably skip some arcs in the shinobi world war Arc due to deciding to focus the POVs only on Menma, Sasuke, and Shio. Anyway let's get to the story!**

 **Chapter 26:**

 **End of the Snake**

(Orochimaru's Base)

Orochimaru coughed up blood as he lay in bed. His time in this body was nearing its end. He needed to begin the ritual to take Sasuke's body soon or he would die. He had just sent Kabuto to get him more medicine when he sensed a chakra outside the door. He looked up expecting Kabuto but coughed up blood as a pure green spear impaled his chest. The door was blasted apart and Sasuke entered the room, holding a glowing spear over his shoulder. Orochimaru gritted his teeth and spoke angrily "What is this, how could you betray me!?"

Sasuke narrowed his glowing green eyes and spoke "I am not betraying you. I was never on your side. You gave me the perfect resources to hone my ability without the restrictions of Konoha. But now your usefulness is at an end."

Orochimaru scowled "Do you think you can end me! I am immortal!"

Sasuke clenched his hand on his spear and it seemed to glow ominously "The spirits call for your blood Orochimaru. You who have betrayed thousands deserves nothing but hell!" Sasuke readied his spear and pierced Orochimaru's heart.

The Snake Sanin screamed in pain as his body burned from the inside and he exploded from the energy inside of him.

Sasuke stared at the mutilated chunks of meat in the room silently. He was surprised it was so easy to kill the snake sannin, weakened or not. Which was why he was prepared and jumped back the minute a large snake attempted to bite him. Sasuke smirked as he observed the white snake comprised of many smaller snakes and spoke "So your soul has been so twisted it reflects the body. Now you are just a snake. You are not even worthy of a human body so you must steal others."

Orochimaru grew angrier and shouted in his serpent like voice "Be quiet! I am immortal! You ssshall die!"

Sasuke sighed and disappeared, re-appearing after slicing the snake into piece with two short spears. He smelled the toxin the snake was releasing but ignored it. Orochimaru had long made him resistant to almost every poison. He would not test his resistance against his former comrade Menma, but he had enough to shrug off the paralytic poison. He was about to exit the room when the head of Orochimaru laughed. He sighed as he observed the laughing head "What does it take to finally kill you."

Orochimaru spoke, despite having his head disconnected from his lungs "I…am…immortal!" Suddenly Sasuke was transported to what appeared to be the stomach of a snake. He glanced around and saw three people trapped inside the fleshy belly. He immediately understood where he was. He was in the stomach of the White Snake Elder. This was where Orochimaru used his ritual to change bodies because it was supposedly impossible to escape from.

He was not worried, he had been planning a counter for the ritual since he learned of it three years ago. He looked in the distance and saw the real body of Orochimaru, also covered in the fleshy floor. The Uchiha ignored the flesh covering his body and activated the jutsu he had created to counter this technique. His green Sharingan eyes spun hypnotically and he shouted out "Mangekyou Sharingan! Yata Mirror!" This was the second ability of his mangekyou eyes, the power to reflect any attack once per day. Be it the most destructive nature manipulation, or the most subtle genjutsu to even the strongest sword thrust.

The ritual was completely reversed and Sasuke absorbed Orochimaru instead of the other way around, adding the power of the man to his own.

Back in the snake's room he left, briefly conversing with Kabuto before exiting the base, he had subordinates to recruit.

(Konoha)(2 Weeks later)

Team cloud hunter stood in the Hokage's office after hearing some shocking information.

Shio could barely believe her ears "Orochimaru is dead…killed by Sasuke!?"

Jiraiya nodded "Yes, all my spies in Orochimaru's ranks tell the same thing, the man is dead."

Menma frowned "That is all well and good but we need to focus on the Akatsuki, not the betrayer."

Shio rounded on Menma, frustrated. Just because Sasuke was not a part of the Akatsuki did not make him unimportant.

Menma noticed the look and spoke "Sasuke's goal in life is to murder Itachi, so ignoring him is the best method to take down the Akatsuki."

Shio bit her lip, she wanted to go after Sasuke to try and convince him to come home since he killed Orochimaru, but she also wanted to see the Akatsuki dead. She also knew Sasuke had the best chance of defeating Itachi due to his Sharingan. She sighed and nodded, accepting her former brother's logic.

Minato continued "Now, we are keeping Sasuke in the bingo book as an A-class missing nin, but I have secretly ordered the ANBU and hunter-nin to stop searching for him until he has either been killed or kills Itachi. If Sasuke returns to the village after killing Itachi he will be pardoned for his actions. However for now I have your next two targets. Your targets are Deidara of the Explosive palms and Tobi the phantasmal joker."

Menma nodded and once again entered into the spider consciousness.

(Land of Fire)(Forest Path)

Menma looked through a spiders eyes and saw Dediara and a masked man walking down the road. He remembered the blond ninja from the land of rivers. It turns out he was actually alive despite blowing himself up.

(Hokage's Office)

Menma opened his eyes and looked at the Hokage "They are currently near the town of Tanzuka Gai."

Minato nodded "Then you are to find and kill the Akatsuki before they find another Jinchurriki!"

Everyone nodded and disappeared to the village gates, each preparing for the fight ahead.

(Sasuke's POV)

Sasuke frowned as he observed the room of his first ally. He only knew this person in passing from reading Orochimaru's notes. Apparently Haku was not the last of the Hyoton wielders. The person behind this vault door was so skilled with the ice jutsu at an early age she attracted the attention of Orochimaru before the purge. Apparently she mixed managed to turn her ice black, similar to black lightning. This caused her clan to fear her and sell her to Orochimaru. She understood betrayal and would be perfect on his team. He conjured a small spear and used it to blast the door open. Upon entering he was assaulted by the freezing cold room. The vault was covered in black ice and sitting upon a frozen throne was a girl with white hair and icy blue eyes. She was so pale anyone who didn't know better would think she was a corpse.

The girl glared at the black haired intruder and spoke "Who are you and why have you entered my room?"

Sasuke shivered a bit at the emotionless voice. The girl could give Itachi a run for his money on the emotionless scale. He stepped forward and spoke "I require assistance against my brother, Itachi Uchiha. I am offering you freedom from this vault. After my brother is dead you can do what you want."

The white haired girl studied the Uchiha in front of her for a few minutes before nodding and stood up from her chair "That sounds like an acceptable deal. My name is Mikomi Yuki. I assume you're the Sasuke I heard my guards talk about?"

Sasuke nodded and they exited the lair together. He freed the other experiments and prisoners but none of them interested him enough to join his team.

They walked together for a time before Mikomi glanced at Sasuke "I know you're the type not to do things without a plan. I assume you already know the two other members of this team?"

Sasuke nodded "Yes, the two that I am interested in are Jugo and Karin. Jugo has a unique bloodline limit that forces him to transform into monstrous forms. Karin is a medic and one of the best sensors in Orochimaru's arsenal."

Mikomi nodded "Wise decisions. With your Sharingan you will be able to control Jugo's rage and Karin will act as the support to our group."

Sasuke grunted in agreement, happy that his first companion understood his reasoning.

(Land of Fire)(Akatsuki's Location)

Team cloud hunter arrived at a clearing where Shio sensed the chakra of the two Akatsuki members. The sensor looked around before looking up and widened her eyes "Dodge!" Everyone jumped away as a clay bird flew to the ground and exploded.

They took there stances when they saw the two Akatsuki members. Deidara put his hands in his pouches and spoke arrogantly "Well if it isn't the Konoha ninjas from the Land of Rivers. I still need to get revenge for cutting off my arms!"

He would have continued to taunt them but Shio appeared before them and slashed through Tobi. She was about to attack Deidara when she had to retreat from several small bombs. Kakashi looked at the downed form of Tobi and questioned Shio "Did you get him?"

Shio frowned as she thought back to what she sensed when she slashed through Tobi. From Orochimaru's reports the strange man had the ability to survive any attack through unknown means. Orochimaru had many theories from him being a genjutsu master to having a special bloodline limit. When she had cut through the man she felt no resistance and felt the chakra in his chest area disappear. She turned to her team and ignored Tobi's annoying voice arguing with Deidara and explained what she sensed "He seems to be able to turn insubstantial somehow. I would have detected an illusion. He can also make his chakra disappear so I assume he either can turn his entire body to nothing, or he transports his body parts somewhere else to avoid damaging himself."

Everyone nodded and Menma spoke "We should focus on Deidara while half our group focuses on Tobi. Do not use taijutsu against him, it seems to be ineffective against him."

Everyone nodded and split up.

(Menma, Shio, Lee, Mito vs Deidara)

Menma jumped back and spoke to his teammates "Distract him, ill end this quickly with senjutsu." The three Konoha ninja nodded and turned to Deidara. Shio began to swing her sword elegantly, sending waves of cutting wind at Deidara.

Lee stayed back and prepared his Turtle stance abilities to defend his allies. Mito jumped forward after the waves of wind to engage Deidara at close range.

Menma entered the tree lines and wrapped himself inside a chakra cocoon and began absorbing nature chakra for his transformation. He would be going up to level two this time.

10 seconds

Lee had to create a large dome of panels to defend the two swordswomen against Deidera's bombs.

Shio continued to use her wind abilities to counter Deidera's explosions and try and cut down the effeminate man. Mito used her natural sword style to jump around the explosions while trying to cut down the rapidly dodging man.

30 seconds

The fight continued until Deidara took to the sky and rained bombs down on the three ninja. The Konoha team were protected by Shio's wind wall and Lee's shields.

50 seconds

The fight had escalated to the point where Deidara was now riding a dragon against the three Konoha genin. However thanks to Lee's stances and Shio's wind wall nearly every single one of Deidara's attacks are negated.

1 minute

Both Deidara and the three Konoha genin paused when they felt a massive power coming from the forest.

Deidara looked to the forest confused before he widened his eyes as a large amount of spider silk emerged from the forest and pulled his dragon to the ground. He barely managed to get off it in time to avoid the collision. He struggled to stand up from the jarring landing and his eyes widened as he saw his new opponent. The Konoha genin had transformed into half man half spider. His upper torso was the same except for black tribal lines following his veins. However the strange aspect of his transformation is that his lower body was now a spider. He prepared bombs in his hands but was shocked when he blinked and the half spider was already in front of him and pierced both his shoulders with its blade like legs. He looked up at the face of his opponent and knew he was going to die.

(With Menma)

As soon as Menma wrapped himself in a cocoon he felt his body shift and expand due to his metamorphosis. The pain was intense but he had been extensively trained to resist the pain of the transformation. The toxin in his blood began pumping faster, making it appear as if he had tattoos where his veins are.

After a minute of gathering the necessary energy he sent his chakra in a wave around him to blast the cocoon apart. He looked up to the sky to see the blond Akatsuki member flying on a white dragon he shot dragons of spider silk from his chakra and brought it to the ground. With his enhanced legs he shot at the Akatsuki member at fast speeds, piercing the man's shoulders and injecting him with one of his strongest toxins, his own blood.

Deidara knew he was dying. He felt the poison course through his veins so he knew he had only one option "If I'm going to die I'm taking you all with me fuckers!" He released a storage seal on his tonge and swallowed his suicide bomb sculpture. Soon black lines emerged all over his body and he was absorbed into a pac man like disk that shown with intense light.

Menma realized the danger and quickly grabbed all of his allies and disappeared into a plume of smoke, using the seals on his allies fighting further away to evacuate them as well.

Deidara barely could form a sentence with all his chakra being pumped into the explosive but he managed to shout out his belief to the world one last time " **ART IS AN EXPLOSION!"**

Many outlying villages would report a massive blue explosion that could be seen and felt for miles on end. In his final moments Deidara made his mark on the world. The scar his explosion left would never heal and would be known as the dead scar.

(Forbidden forest)

Kakashi, Shio, Mito, Yakumo, Lee, and Yamato opened their eyes to see a large expanse of forest covered in spider webs. They were in the middle of what appeared to be a city made of the silken strands. Menma was back to normal except his shirt was completely shredded.

Kakashi looked around and put his headband back over his eye before speaking "Where are we?"

Menma answered after unsealing a black turtleneck and putting it on "The summoning realm of the spider clan. Deidara was planning on blowing up that entire area in a suicide bombing. What happened with you four? Did you manage to kill Tobi?"

Yakumo growled as she spoke up "No, the annoying bastard was slippery. Every time we attacked he would somehow get away or turn intangible. The only attack that even made him worried was Kakashi's Mangekyou Sharingan."

Menma frowned "I see, then we cannot conclude if he is alive or dead from Deidara's explosion then."

Before anyone else could respond the Konoha ninja heard a voice "It has been a long time that a human not a part of our summoning contract has set foot in this sacred forest. I hope you do not make this a common occurrence, Menma."

Team cloud hunter looked around and saw a beautiful black haired woman in a black dress with silver web designs. Menma stepped forward and bowed slightly "Lady Arachne. I am sorry for bringing them here but there was no other choice. The enemy we were fighting used a large ranged technique that would have killed them all."

Arachne nodded in understanding "Yes, I sensed the death of many spiders in your area. It is a tragic loss."

Shio walked forward "I remember you, I fought against you three years ago."

Arachne turned around "Ah yes, you were that girl. I would say it is nice to see you again but humans besides our summoner are normally not welcome here. Since the explosion has passed I will ask you to leave, or the others will grow restless."

Everyone but Menma tensed slightly as they heard the scuttling of thousands of arachnids. Menma however remained calm and nodded his head "I thank you for your hospitality Arachne-sama. We will be leaving."

Arachne smiled kindly at her summoner "Yes, go. But do return for a visit Menma. It is so nice to be able to chat with a person who can talk back."

Menma nodded and they disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Arachne frowned as she watched the spider summoner disappear. Soon it would be time for Menma's final test with the spider clan. She hated deceiving her summoner but it was necessary for the continuation of the spider clan.

He would have to pass the final trial just as she did so long ago.

(Konoha)

After re-appearing near the village they reported to the Hokage.

Minato read the report and smiled at the team. He was right to assign team 7 and 9 to track down the Akatsuki. They were becoming one of the strongest teams he had available in Konoha. He put down the report "Congratulations everyone. You have defeated another member of the Akatsuki and retrieved another one of the rings. It is a shame that Tobi escaped but you have retrieved vital information on his abilities which will help us the next time we run across him. You will be awarded the mission payment and a week's rest."

Everyone smiled at the news, feeling optimistic for the future.

However, little did they know that another team had just formed with the same goals. The destruction of the Akatsuki.

(Unkown location)

Sasuke stood before the three ninja he had picked. Mikomi Yuki, Jugo, and Karin Uzumaki. He evaluated each before speaking "For now we will move as a single unit. We will be known as team Hebi. Our goal is the death of Itachi Uchiha and anyone associated with him. If you follow me we will work to accomplish your own goals as well after Itachi is dead."

Everyone nodded and they began jumping through the forest to a nearby town to gather information on Itachi.

As they traveled Sasuke's eyes glowed green 'Soon brother, vengeance shall be mine!'

 **AN2: And that's that for chapter 26. I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Now I want to address my latest OC in this chapter. I replaced Suigestsu with Mikomi because I just didn't get why Sasuke included him in the group. His personality does not mesh well with the team at all, he has no special power besides his water body technique (Which can be countered easily with lightning). I decided to make my own character slightly inspired by Lissandra. Mikomi Yuki will use powers similar to my MC in the Frozen Mask. Anyway if you have any comments feel free to let me know.**


	27. Chapter 27: The Death of Heroes

**AN: Hello everyone, I hope everyone has been enjoying this story so far. I wanted to once again point out that I own none of the aspects of this story except my OCs and original techniques.**

 **Since this story is coming nearing its completion I have been thinking of the next story that I will focus on after this. I am thinking of basing Naruto off of a character from WoW. The Lich King and Sylvanas have been overused so I was thinking maybe someone like Kil'Jaeden, Cho'gall, or Queen Azshara. The MC will more than likely be female who is neglected by her parents. It will be a dark fic so there will be no forgiveness of the parents unlike in this story. I would love to hear people's opinions of this idea by either pming me or commenting in the reviews. I am not going to start writing until this story is finished so there is plenty of time to get your opinion out there.**

 **But enough of future ideas and on to this story. I will kick things off by responding to a few comments.**

 **HitoKiriShin: Thank you for your comment. I dislike stories where Naruto is godlike from the very start without any work involved, or by abusing the shadow clone jutsu. I like to build the character up in my story similar to Canon.**

 **T-Man-Boy – Lee has been using a defensive style to protect his allies. He will use his more offensive abilities more in the future.**

 **Wrytha – I was planning on having Suigetsu go back to Kiri. I never liked him as a character but he may show up in the war arc.**

 **Chapter 27**

 **The End of Heroes**

 **(Land of Fire Forest)**

Four blurs dashed through the trees, weaving between the large branches. They were headed towards the old Uchiha base. Sasuke ground his teeth together from the meeting with his older brother.

(Flashback)

Sasuke stood in a cave where an anonymous tip was given that Itachi was hiding out in. He didn't trust the tip but even if Itachi wasn't here he could find clues to where his brother was hiding.

He held his katana at the ready as he slowly stalked through the cave. He had left his three teammates at the entrance to prevent anyone interfering with the coming battle. Upon reaching the end of the cave he stopped and glared upon seeing his brother. The two faced off silently until Itachi spoke first "It has been a long time, hasn't it Sasuke?"

Sasuke began to glow green as his anger grew "The spirits of all the people you have killed demand for your blood Itachi."

Itachi closed his eyes and spoke "Yes, I figured that much when I murdered them all. However, do you think you can avenge them?"

Sasuke glared harder at Itachi and activated his mangekyou Sharingan "I can with these eyes Itachi!"

Itachi didn't seem to react upon seeing the mangekyou but rose an eyebrow "Oh? Who did you kill to gain those eyes little brother?"

Sasuke glared harder at the kin slayer "I killed no one to gain these eyes. My hatred and determination to surpass you awoke them."

Itachi once again his passive face and commented "Indeed? Then we will have to face each other. Meet me at the old Uchiha hideout in the land of Fire. We will end this there." After saying this Itachi broke into crows and disappeared out the cave.

Sasuke grounded his teeth that his brother had lured him here via a clone and he did not notice. He exited the cave and motioned for his teammates to follow, he explained on the way what Itachi's clone told him.

Mikomi raised an eyebrow at the information "It is more than likely a trap. He is baiting you."

Sasuke nodded "I can't let him get away so I will play his game for now. You three will be guards to prevent anyone from interfering."

Jugo nodded and spoke "The birds tell me that Itachi was seen entering the building, and that Kisame Hoshigaki is outside guarding. I assume Itachi also does not wish for anyone to interfere with your fight."

Karin spoke up "I can sense Kisame… my god his chakra is higher than anything I have ever sensed! It feels like I'm drowning in an ocean!"

The four ninja landed on a rooftop near the abandoned Uchiha hideout and saw Kisame standing there with Samehada over his shoulder. The shark skinned man grinned savagely at the group "I see Itachi was right that you would come Sasuke. However you are going to have to leave your friends here. Don't worry, I will only harm them if they try and enter the building. You have my word."

Mikomi glare turned even icier as she spoke "What is the worth of an oath by a man who butchers his own people at the word of a tyrant?"

Kisame looked at the girl and smirked widely "Oho! If it isn't Mikomi Yuki. I thought you died with the other members of the Yuki clan. Pity."

Mikomi acted fast, summoning two large arm braces with curved blades on them and slashed at Kisame. The shark like man easily deflected the attack with his sword, all the while smirking at the black ice user. Kisame hefted his sword over his shoulder and spoke to the Yuki "If you want to fight me that's fine, but no one is getting past here other than the Uchiha."

Sasuke glanced at his allies who all nodded and jumped past the shark and entered the Uchiha hideout.

(Uchiha Hideout)

For the first time in three years the two brothers faced each other. Sasuke stared at the embodiment of his hatred for a while. Itachi was slouched on a throne with his eyes closed. As if Sasuke was not worth his notice. He grounded his teeth slightly as Itachi opened his eyes slightly and spoke "You surprise me, Sasuke. I thought the minute you entered this room you would attack me."

Sasuke didn't fall for the bait and responded "I wanted to ask you something."

Itachi raised an eyebrow "What could you wish to ask me at this stage of the game little brother?"

Sasuke glared harder "Who helped you slaughter the entirety of the Uchiha clan!?"

Itachi's eyes widened "So, you figured it out."

Sasuke's eyes began to glow green as he began to shout "The Uchiha clan was one of the largest clans in Konoha. Even for the Uchiha prodigy it would be impossible for you to kill them all in one night without raising any alarms! Who helped you! Answer me!"

Itachi sighed and closed his eyes "…You are correct. I was helped that night. I was helped by the founder of our clan, Madara Uchiha."

Sasuke's eyes opened in shock and remembered what the spirit of vengeance told him.

(Flashback)

Kalista stared at a younger Sasuke and spoke "Madara Uchiha gained an extended lifespan from killing his own brother and taking his eyes, creating the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan. He is still active today and responsible for many tragedies. Even I do not know how far his corruption has spread throughout the elemental nations."

(End Flashback)

Sasuke's eyes burned with green fire "So you sold our clan out to that man. I will just add that to the many reasons for me to kill you!"

Itachi's eyes widened as a spear pierced through his chest. He looked at the Sasuke he had been speaking too and saw it break apart into green light. He glanced behind his chair and saw the real Sasuke with his hand extended with the glowing spear. He looked forward again "You have grown stronger Sasuke, but you are still blind."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and jumped away as Itachi swung a sword down behind him. The entire room shifted and the Itachi that he had pierced faded away. The green eyed Uchiha observed the real Itachi and saw the katana in his hands. The blade was simple in design except for the pure black blade. The guard was the three tomoe of the Sharingan. He recognized that sword and nearly growled in rage "You stole the sword of the Uchiha!?"

Itachi didn't react to the accusation and spoke "This sword is only allowed to be wielded by the clan leader. Since I am the oldest son of the clan head, I am the rightful heir."

Sasuke extended two of his spears till they reached the ground and extended their points to be two scythes and shouted at his older brother "Then I will rip that sword from your cold dead hands!" He dashed forward and began to swing his scythes in graceful arcs, forcing Itachi to be on the defensive.

Itachi showed no weakness and parried the two scythes easily as they danced through the Uchiha base. He decided to raise his power a bit and thought of Shisui who taught him this technique. His sword caught fire and lengthened the katana to the size of a broadsword.

If anyone observed this fight at a distance all they would see is green fire meeting red as the two ninja clashed in the near darkness of the room.

Sasuke thought of his teacher Kakashi as he channeled lightning into his scythes to create green lightning, drastically increasing his damage and effectiveness of his scythes.

Itachi was reminded of his mother Mikoto as he incorporated illusions into his swordplay, fending off the deadly green lightning with his flames and sword. His mother had taught him the art of illusions with kenjutsu and he made good use of these skills against his younger brother.

Sasuke remembered his former teammate, Shio, as he blasted the area in front of him with a large explosion of green flames. He had often practiced this technique with Shio before the Chunin exams. They often had fun practicing combining their abilities.

Unknown to each other, they were not only fighting against each other, but the memories that clung to their techniques and the figures important to them who inspired the beautiful dance of death. It was fitting for their final clash to honor their past memories with their allies and family.

Their dance was interrupted as a portion of the ceiling was blasted open by Sasuke and Itachi's flames and they both jumped up to the roof to avoid the falling debris. The two stared at each other from across the hole as they let go of their memories and focused purely on their fight.

Memories of each member of his clan flashed in front of his eyes and disappeared as Itachi focused chakra on his left eye and activated his mangekyou Sharingan. He let each face go as he shouted "Amaterasu!"

Sasuke also saw the faces of the many villagers, clan members, and allies he had befriended in Konoha before his betrayal. Instead of discarding them he held them close in his mind's eye as he brought both his hands forward and activated his Mangekyou Sharingan and shouted "Yata Mirror!" A large flaming shield erupted before the black flames of the sun god.

For miles people could see the two techniques clashing. Black flames flickered and tried to eat away at the shield, creating a magnificent display of light at the top of the Uchiha outpost.

When the light died down Sasuke could see that both attacks had negated each other. He panted heavily as he had used most of his chakra in that technique. The Yata mirror's chakra cost was directly proportional to the power of the technique it defends against. The Amaterasu had to be one of the most powerful techniques in existence.

Itachi held his bleeding eye as he panted from overusing the Amaterasu. He did not recognize the technique that his younger brother used but it did the impossible, it negated the black sun flames. He winced as he stood up. He had to forcefully negate his own Amaterasu flames from reflecting upon himself from Sasuke's technique, using up most of his chakra.

Sasuke breathed in heavily as he knew he had one more trick up his sleeve. His last technique would use most of his remaining chakra, but it would surely end his brother for good. He channeled chakra into both his eyes and prepared the final technique of his mangekyou.

Itachi widened his eyes as green orbs began appearing around the now ruined roof of the Uchiha hideout and began to spin in a dome around the two opponents. The orbs spinned so fast it appeared as if they were inside a Hyuga's Kaiten. He wondered the purpose of the technique until orbs began streaming from around the dome and manifested into the shapes of humans. He could not withhold the gasp as he saw his parents, Shisui, his clan members, and many others he had killed in his life. They were all looking at him sorrowfully as they stood behind Sasuke.

Sasuke gasped for breath as he completed his technique. The final technique of his eyes was Yami, calling forth the spirits of the pure world briefly into this one to aid him in this fight. He formed another spear in his hands and held it up to the middle of the dome. The spirits around him spared one last pitying glance at Itachi before being absorbed into the spear. The spear glowed a bright green until it was difficult to look at. Sasuke's entire body was enveloped in green flames as he was empowered by every human Itachi had killed in his lifetime. He felt hands on his shoulder and he briefly glanced back to see his parents looking at him proudly, but sadly at the same time. His mother's spirit appeared to be crying as his father looked on in sadness. They both reached out and placed their hands on the spearhead, increasing the glow of his spear tremendously.

Time seemed to slow as Sasuke raised the spear and threw it at his brother. Itachi widened his eyes as he saw the approaching green spear and smiled slightly. His brother would be fine without him now.

The background appeared to be painted red as Itachi was speared through the heart with the spear.

Sasuke panted heavily as he stared at the impaled visage of his brother. He was truly spent of chakra now and he leaned back against a wall behind him. He looked at his brother and felt his eyes widen in horror as his brother was lurching his way towards him. He was in shock that his brother could move with his heart pierced. He had to be using his entire chakra supply to force his entire body to move. He was too exhausted to move and could only watch morbidly and afraid as Itachi drew nearer.

He closed his eyes in fear as his brother was right in front of him but opened them in surprise as instead of pain he felt a simple poke to his forehead. He looked at his brother in shock.

Itachi smiled for the first time in ten years as blood ran down his chin. He felt his life slipping away but knew he had to say these words before passing on "I am sorry Sasuke, this is the last time…" He collapsed onto the ground and saw the spirits of all the people he had killed around him as green spirits. The nearly dead Uchiha saw his parents and Shisui at the front of the crowd smiling sadly at him and outstretched their hands for him to come to them. He looked down at his impaled body and began walking towards them, appearing as he did when he was just 13, still innocent of the blood of his family. He nodded to his family and hugged them before turning to his brother who had passed out on the ground and knew that at last, his mission was complete.

It was up to Sasuke and his friends now to stop Madara.

He could finally rejoin his family.

(Outside the Hideout)

Kisame closed his eyes and sighed briefly as he deflected another strike from Mikomi. He had no skill in chakra sensing, but he knew that Itachi was dead. He had always known Itachi was going to his death against his younger brother. He did not know Itachi's reasons for choosing death against his brother. But he respected Itachi as a person and knew he died with honor. He jumped away from the ice user and thought back to all the times he had talked to Itachi 'I wonder if you figured out your worth as a person at the very end Itachi. For people like us, there is no place on earth we will be accepted. But we acknowledged each other and became teammates. I hope in the next life we can fight side by side once more.'

He hid his sorrow from Sasuke's team and spoke "it seems as if they have ended their fight. You can pass now and see the result."

Mikomi glared but knew her team captain was more important than her revenge.

The three members of team Hebi rushed into the Uchiha hideout and made their way to the roof, where they found the two Uchiha brothers laying down on the roof. One simply unconscious while the other was clearly dead by the hole where his heart should be.

Karin checked over Sasuke's injuries and put him on her back and looked at her companions "We should take him back to the hideout, we can tend to his injuries and plan the next step then."

Jugo and Mikomi nodded and they disappeared in body flickers.

If they had stayed for a few more seconds they would have been seen by a whirling vortex that revealed the Akatsuki member Tobi. The masked man approached Itachi's body and frowned beneath his mask. His original plan was to kidnap Sasuke and tell him a slightly faked story of the Uchiha revolt and Konoha's involvement of the destruction of the Uchiha clan. But it seemed as if Sasuke had been spirited away before he could. He looked at the fallen Uchiha and was going to extract his eyes but narrowed his eyes in anger. In his final moments it seemed Itachi had somehow sent his eyes away. He walked away, leaving the eyeless body exposed to the elements.

(Konoha)(Several days later)

Minato closed the report and rubbed his hand over his eyes. It appeared that Sasuke had finally achieved his goal and killed his brother. He felt a deep sense of sorrow that Itachi had met his end this way, hated by the world to hide the crimes of his clan. He knew that Itachi was one of the best heroes of the Leaf and hated that he had to hide this fact. But he kept his promise to Itachi all those years ago. The Uchiha would be redeemed through Itachi's death.

He looked out over Konoha and wondered how his sensei was doing in his mission. A week ago Jiraiya had went to the village hidden in the rain to investigate Pain and Konan. Orochimaru's notes were very vague on their abilities so Jiraiya had gone to scout the village for their influence. He only hoped that his sensei would be alright.

(Village Hidden in the Rain)

Jiraiya coughed out blood as chakra metal spears where impaled in his back by the six paths of Pain. He smiled grimly as he knew his death was close. He reached out with a chakra lit finger and burned his last message to Konoha on the back of the toad Pa. He had fulfilled his purpose of the prophecy. He was content in death knowing that the next generation would end his former students and surely bring peace to the Elemental nations.

As he sunk into the ocean he thought of the title of the next chapter in his life's series 'The Adventures of the Namikaze Children. Yes, that has a good sound to it. I will…leave the editing to them.'

 **AN2: And that concludes the two saddest deaths of all Shippuden. I skipped the Jiraiya vs Pein fight because I havnt given either of them any extra abilities so the fight would be the same as canon. I hope everyone likes my take on the Sasuke vs Itachi fight. If you have any remarks or recommendations please let me know.**


	28. Chapter 28: The Trials of a Generation

**AN: Greetings everyone, I hope everyone doesn't hate me after that last chapter. I nearly cried when Itachi and Jiraiya died myself. However it was necessary to progress the plot of the story. I also have been noticing I've been getting a lot more flames lately. Wonder if that's a sign my story is getting popular…or just really bad to warrant flames :/. Anyway I don't really care if the grammar is bad or not, it's the story that matters. I will get to responding to some legit comments before I start the next chapter.**

 **Adam218: Your ideas are two avenues I am considering for the personality for the MC. However I wanted her personality to be slightly like Queen Azshara. Cocky, seductive, evil, but with a face of purity to mask it. However I am still only in the framework of the story so that may change.**

 **Swordmanwielder: I assume the fanfic you're talking about is that fanfic where Naruto has Deathwing sealed inside of him. I never really liked cataclysm in WoW. Many of their raids were subpar and the final fight was a huge letdown. The only raids I liked was the underwater one (cant remember the raid name atm) and Bastion of Twilight. As I stated in an earlier AN she (yes she) will most likely be based on a warlock.**

 **TheClownKing: I read your comments and laughed. Loudly. You obviously have no understanding of the point of this fanfiction or the purposes of poison and healing. You are obviously another naruto godlike fanboy who wants to see him act like a spoiled brat never forgiving anyone and wallowing in his own emoness because his parents neglected him. If this story is not good to you, then that's fine. Write your own story to your wants instead of bashing others works.**

 **Jonty2600: He can form spider webs out of his chakra and can even use real spider silk in his spider form.**

 **Sith Raven's Shadow: Learn to spell before you flame someone. It makes you sound like the moron that you most likely are. The fact that you most likely have auto correct to help you makes it worse.**

 **Chapter 28:**

 **The Trials of a Generation**

(Konoha)

Rain was descending from the sky on the black clad people below. It was a time of mourning in Konoha. One of their greatest heroes had fallen. Minato, Tsunade, Shio, Kushina, and Kakashi were at the front of the group and Minato prepared his speech.

He looked at a few cards pre prepared by the elders and tossed them aside. He would give this speech from the heart. Minato walked up the podium and addressed the crowd "Thank you all for coming on this sad day. One of our greatest heroes has passed away a week ago. Jiraiya of the Sannin, or Jiraiya the Toad Sage, both legendary titles of the previous generation. Not many people knew Jiraiya outside of his legend. He was one of the most perverted men I know. But he was an honorable man. His death will not go unpunished. The Akatsuki will answer for their crimes. This I swear!"

The crowd cheered at the rousing speech and began to break off after leaving flowers on the grave of the sannin. Minato looked at his daughter and saw her standing near the grave of Jiraiya. She had her hair down and the fringe covered her eyes but Minato knew how she was feeling. He also knew she would rather be alone at this time.

(Shio's POV)

Shio stared down at the smiling face of Jiraiya's picture and felt empty inside. Jiraiya had been an uncle to her and sometimes even a father figure when Minato was busy with work. She could not help but remember each moment she spent with the perverted hermit. She nearly jumped when a voice spoke inside her head " **You shouldn't be so sad the old hermit was dead. He had nothing left to teach you. Besides, the pervert probably didn't have much longer to live anyway."**

Normally Shio was tolerant of her dark side. She realized it was a part of herself and tried to live with it as best she could. But there was one thing she never tolerated, when anyone insulted dead allies. She responded to her dark side with anger 'Don't you dare insult him. You have no right to insult his sacrifice.'

She could almost feel the smirk Yami was giving off " **And what are you going to do about it if I continue to insult him? He was nothing but a perverted hermit who deserved what he got."**

For the first time in her life Shio began to hate another being with all her heart. She closed her eyes and entered a meditative state to enter her mindscape. When she opened her eyes she was on a large pillar with harsh wind blowing around her. After Yami took all the Kyuubi's chakra she had fully removed the seal, revealing her true mindscape. She assumed it reflected her connection to the wind. However she was not here to look at the scenery. She glared at her darkness who stood across the large stone pillar, smirking at her. Since she wore her funeral clothes, consisting of a black turtleneck shirt with black shinobi pants, her Yami wore a white version of her outfit.

Yami smirk grew as she spoke to her lightside " **So you finally come here. Are you finally willing to fight for control of this body?"**

Shio summoned her Katana and the wind around the pillar formed a cyclone around the pillar. She slowly drew her sword and brandished it to her side and glared at the source of her dark emotions "It is time to show you that I am in control of this body."

Yami's smirk turned into an ugly glare " **Ugh. You and your self-righteousness makes me sick. The only reason you have the will to even fight for your pathetic body is because I insulted your dead mentor. It is pathetic that the only reason you are even willing to fight is to honor the memory of a dead idiot!"**

Shio's eyes narrowed at her dark side "I cannot believe you are a side of me. You cannot even understand that I do not gain strength from myself. I can power from my friends and the people who support me!

Yami frowned and dark orbs began to surround her " **Then let us put your strength to the test. Remember, whoever loses this fight will forever lose control of this body."** As she spoke the three dark orbs around her transformed into a large broadsword.

Since no more words were needed the two sides of the same body rushed forward in a clash of blades. Shio narrowed her eyes as she fought against her dark side. She really pitied Yami, never knowing any joy or affection for anyone else. But she would never give up this body.

The two swords seemed to be arcs of light and dark as they fought. Soon they locked blades in the middle of the pillar and glared at each other. Yami forced Shio back and jumped into the air, floating in the air as she summoned six spheres of corrupted chakra and launched them at Shio " **Can you endure the very power you kept under lock and key your entire life? Never even attempting to use it! Pure foolishness!"**

Shio swung her sword in an arc in front of her and created a large barrier of wind around her that deflected the dark orbs. Shio gritted her teeth as she felt the force from the orbs impacting her shield and responded to Yami, "I never used that power because it is evil! It corrupts the mind until there is nothing left but rage!"

Yami growled angrily and powered her sword with more demonic energy and shouted " **That is why you are weak! You are unwilling to seek more power! You are content to remain weak and helpless relying on your so called friends to save you!"** Yami descended from the air with a dark aura surrounding her sword.

Shio gritted her teeth at the continuous insults to her friends and summoned wind to sharpen her sword to the maximum and jumped to meet Yami's strike.

The two collided in midair forming two large auras in the air as the glowing sword clashed against the nihilistic blade of Yami.

However Shio widened her eyes as cracks began to form along her katana. Soon the beautiful blade was shattered as Yami was pushed back at great speeds. A large plume of dust erupted from the pillar as Shio crashed into it.

Yami landed on the pillar softly and smirked as the dust cloud dissipated to reveal a hurt Shio. Her Katana had managed to absorb most of the attack but the splinters of her sword had cut her in multiple places. The dark entity began to walk slowly forward, savoring the moment that she would end her jailor.

Shio panted as she struggled to rise and looked at the broken handle of her katana. Her katana had been the representation of her willpower. But it had shattered under the weight of Yami's hatred. She closed her eyes in preparation for the end when she heard the voice of her brother. "You're not just going to give up are you? Even you are stronger than that Shio."

Shio quickly looked up to see the spirits of all of her friends and family smiling at her and encouraging her to keep fighting. She wondered briefly why Menma was at the front of the group before they parted and Jiraiya stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. The old hermit smiled kindly at his pseudo granddaughter "I know you can do it Shio. You are stronger than her. Make us proud."

The spirits of her friends disappeared one by one. The spirits of Menma disappearing last, giving her a nod in acknowledgement before disappearing as well. She refocused on her broken sword and tightened her grip on the blade.

Yami was nearing the downed Shio when she stopped when a surge of power erupted from her light side. Her eyes widened as Shio stood up, all her wounds healed and holding a katana made of pure light. She backed away from the light, its essence burning her. For the first time during the fight she felt fear against her opponent. She saw her sword dissolve and she began to back away from the glowing girl. " **W-what is this! I had broken your willpower! What power could possible give you this much strength!"**

Shio stood over her dark side, eyes blazing with strength and raised her sword "My friends." She swung the sword down and Yami closed her eyes in fear, waiting for the end. However after several moments she opened her eyes and saw the sword inches from her neck, but not piercing the skin. Yami looked up at her light side confused.

Shio removed her sword from her dark side's neck and spoke "I win this fight, but I will not destroy you Yami. Despite everything, you are still a part of me. We complete each other, you are my pride, my fear, and all the rest of my dark emotions. I may not agree with many of your thoughts, but they are necessary to complete me. I say instead of one of us killing the other, we combine our strengths back into one."

Yami sighed and chuckled a bit "You are still too soft even after defeating me. But I guess in this situation it is better to combine than simply disappear. Alright then, you have a deal. I must say, I'm glad you were my other."

Shio nodded and the two sides clasped hands and both disappeared into particles of dark and light glass.

(Real world)

Shio opened her eyes with a start and looked around, seeing that only a few hours had passed judging from the position of the sun. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She felt complete since the first time Yami made her appearance. She now felt the emotions that Yami represented, however she would not make the mistake of suppressing these emotions.

She looked back down at Jiraiya's grave but did not feel the same overwhelming sadness she felt before. She knew the old hermit was at peace wherever he was. She looked away but spoke one last sentence to his grave "Goodbye, Jiraiya-sensei." That was the first time she ever called the sannin by his name.

(Menma's POV)

Menma walked away from the funeral, letting his feat carry him through the streets of Konoha. He had not known the Sannin that well. But he still felt sad for the man's death. Despite his perverted tendencies he was still a good man.

He eventually realized his feet had carried him to the laboratory where he started his journey so long ago. He smiled a bit reading over his old notes and calculations. Early in his genin career he had informed Anko of this place only to learn that this place wasn't so secret after all. The laboratory apparently was an abandoned research center for the sannin and his apprentice. It had been abandoned and forgotten about after he had defected but no one wanted to enter the place to clear Orochimaru's equipment out.

He was about to head back to the village when he felt a summoning from the spiders. His view of the lab quickly changed to the familiar scenery of the spider summoning realm. He spotted Arachne sitting on her throne and walked up to her "Arachne, it is good to see you again. Why have I been summoned?"

Arachne put down a glass of wine, or blood. He had never asked. She turned to him with a sad smile **"It is time for you to perform the last trial as a summoner of the spider clan."**

Menma frowned "I thought when I mastered the senjutsu of the spiders I passed all the trials?"

Arachne turned around **"No, not yet. The final trial is a bit more difficult than just training."**

Menma glanced around for anything that could be his final trial when the floor underneath the throne disappeared and before he could react he fell underneath the forest. In any normal situation he would be calm but falling to his perceived death the only thing he could do was cry out in alarm.

(The Spider Caverns.)

Menma eventually managed to slow his descent with his chakra strings and landed safely onto the ground. He quickly surveyed his surroundings and was shocked to see he was on a large square stone platform with many spider webs connecting it to the sides of the cave he was in. He looked at the far wall was a large crystal that looked to be a yellow reptilian eye. He walked over to the edge and saw many statues of humans in various positions of agony. He turned to Arachne who had just emerged on the other side of the arena "Where are we?"

Arachne looked sad as she observed the man she had helped raise since he was a young adult **"We are in the caverns bellow the forest. This is where an older race of spiders resided. They were known simply as the Arubians. We do not know much about them, only that they existed thousands of years before our current species. This particular room was the throne room where the leader of the race resided. Now we use this room to conduct the final trial of our summoners."**

Menma frowned "And what is this final trial?"

Arachne looked over the side of the platform and spoke " **A fight to the death between the current hive mind of the clan and the summoner. This is an ancient tradition to preserve the strength of our clan. The winner will become the new hive mind."**

Menma was shocked "What! We can't do that! Surely there is some other way?"

Arachne shook her head " **No, this is an ancient tradition of our clan. The statues you see around us are not simply for decoration. They are all the past summoners who have failed a stage in the trials to become our summoner. You are one of the two summoners ever to make it this far."**

Menma glanced down over the ledge of the large platform, there had to be hundreds of people down there. He looked back at his mother figure for most of his life and spoke sadly "Must we do this?"

Arachne looked remorseful as they prepared for combat " **It is unfortunate, but there is no other way to preserve the strength of the clan. The spiders will only follow the strongest. If we were to both stand at the top the spider clan would be divided, and eventually go to war with each other. Now stand tall summoner! You now face the true might of the arachnids!"** A large green aura enveloped Arachne and in a flash of green light she revealed her true form.

Menma involuntarily began backing away cautiously as out of the green light Arachne was revealed. Her spider form was gigantic. Her lower body was that of a spider and nearly as large as the Hokage's tower. Her upper body had four arms and glowing green eyes. The transformed Arachne stared down at her summoner and spoke " **This is your final trial summoner! Defeat me and my power is yours! However if you fail you will die just like the rest and this cave will be your tomb forever!"**

Menma cursed inwardly, knowing he could not convince Arachne to stop this madness. However before he could plan anything he had to jump out of the way as the Queen of the spiders charged forward, stopping just short of the edge of the platform. Arachne quickly turned around and began spraying poison out of her mouth around the arena.

All Menma could do was dodge the poison. Despite his resistance to it he knew he would not survive a direct hit with Arachne's neurotoxin. As he dodged another bullet of poison he dashed forward, using his enhanced strength and black blood to jump high into the air. He went through four handseals and muttered the name of his jutsu "Spider silken entrapment!" Strings of chakra spider silk erupted from his chakra points and wrapped around the form of Arachne, binding her for a short time. The large arachnid struggled with the bindings, quickly tearing through some of them as she began to follow the fleeing human " **You cannot escape Menma, you can flee, and you can scamper around like a rat. But you will not leave this cavern until one of us is dead!**

Menma quickly fled down some of the tunnels, hands clasped together with spider silk as he absorbed nature chakra as fast as he could while moving. He knew he could not defeat Arachne as just a human so he knew he had to transform into level three senjutsu to succeed. He could hear Arachne behind him but he quickly put up walls of chakra strands to keep her at bay as he worked. It seemed it was easier to absorb senjutsu in these caverns. He passed under a shadow of a large statue of an arachnid like being. As he emerged from the shadow of it he was now in his level two senjutsu form. He quickly turned down a side tunnel and was momentarily stunned to see he was back where he started when he heard Arachne chasing after him. He prayed his level three transformation would make it in time as he waited for the spider queen to emerge.

Arachne slowly re-entered the trial room and saw Menma with his hands clasped in prayer, a slight green glow around them as he waited for her. She smirked slightly as she knew what he was doing. It seemed this fight was going to finally get interesting " **Come Menma, let us finally fight as equals!"**

Menma felt enough nature chakra enter and balance within his body and released it into the rest of his body. A large dark green aura enveloped him. He remembered the discussing he had with Arachne when he was training and the warning she had given him.

(Flashback)

Menma was currently in his stage two Senjutsu and absorbing power, he felt so close to achieving level three that he could taste it. However before he could transform Arachne quickly spoke up " **Stop**."

Knowing to obey her commands during training he stopped gathering Nature chakra, frustrated "Why did you have me stop sensei? I was almost at the final level."

Arachne nodded " **While that is impressive, I did not tell you to stop because you made a mistake. Rather I will give you a warning about going into level three senjutsu. This form will be your most powerful, however each level three spider form is unique. I have seen three people achieve this power and each one had different specialties. Some were more focused on long range while others were more suitable to close range combat. However, there is a risk to this power."**

Menma raised an eyebrow. Senjutsu was already very dangerous because one mistake and you could unbalance your chakra, giving a disastrous side effect depending on which clan your learning senjutsu from.

Arachne continued " **After entering your third and final form, that form will be your true form."**

Menma looked confused "True form? What do you mean?"

Arachne explained " **I mean, simply your spider side will affect your human side to such a degree that you will no longer be a human with spider powers, but a spider with the power to transform into a human."**

Menma widened his eyes "So I will lose my humanity?"

Arachne nodded " **Yes, in time you will learn how to transform yourself back into a human, but it would take around a month of constant practice. And that is only if you wish to."**

Menma looked away frustrated "Give me some time to decide."

Arachne nodded " **I thought you would like some time to think it over. It is not an easy decision to lose your humanity after all. But know this, you will need an anchor to remember your humanity after transforming. Someone that you have a special bond with. As long as that person is inside your heart, you will retain your human mind and eventually be able to return to yourself."**

Menma nodded, lost in thought as he looked out over the other spiders.

(End Flashback)

As he felt his body transform once more he closed his eyes 'I am sorry everyone, I must do this. But I will make it back to you, I promise!'

The light eventually died down and Arachne could finally see Menma's transformed state. He was only slightly larger than a human. His skin had turned dark purple and he had glowing purple tribal tattoos on his chest. He had armored carapace attached to many parts of his body except for his chest, forming a sort of armor. On the back of each of his arms were large scythe like blades, dripping a venomous green poison. He also had large insectoid wings on his back, flapping occasionally. She knew that her potential successor was lucky. There were very few spiders with wings but he must have absorbed their properties as he went into level three senjutsu form. She observed the rest of him but it was his eyes that caught the attention of Arachne the most, his eyes glowed a dark green, power radiating from them.

However, despite his impressive form she could not help but feel disappointed. She had expected a larger form, perhaps even on her scale. He was barely any larger than he was before. She was about to mock his form when she widened her eyes as he was gone and suddenly behind her, scythes raised to deeply wound her. She quickly dodged to the side and examined the new Menma much more closely. It seemed she had underestimated him because of his small body. She theorized that all the power of the level three transformation was condensed in that small body, increasing his strength, speed, stamina, and power even further than his other transformations. She flexed her claw like hands as she anticipated this battle " **Come summoner, we shall finally end this trial!"**

And so the two titans clashed. They fought, fighting like beasts as they relentlessly battled for dominance. Arachne quickly learned that despite being in his berserker like state from just entering level three, he could still heal even grievous injuries as she attacked him. She assumed that his medic abilities transferred over to his empowered form. She knew she would lose this fight. Despite her larger size and experience, she could not handle the raw power that Menma was displaying. She felt proud that the student she had taught was finally surpassing her.

Menma roared with power and jumped into the air, stabbing both of his scythe arms into the body of Arachne. The spider queen screamed in anguished as she shrunk back down to her human form, no longer being able to transform due to her other body's injuries. She sighed as Menma approached, it seemed this was the end for her. She only hoped that Menma could regain his human mind, and not be corrupted by this power. Arachne closed her eyes in preparation for the end.

Menma walked forward, every instinct was demanding he slice the woman's neck before him. But in the corner of his mind a voice was screaming at him to stop. He struggled as the two wills inside his head battled for dominance.

Little did either one know that behind them the crystal eye was starting to glow as the fight reached its conclusion.

(Menma's Mindscape)

The mental representation of the human Menma was restraining his bestial side, trying to save Arachne's life. He would not lose one of his precious people. Especially not his mother figure.

Inari watched the two aspects of his host's consciousness battle on the lake in front of him. He had finally regained his ninth tail after Menma's influx of chakra from entering stage three sage mode. He was quite impressed with his host's progress through the years but he upheld his word, he no longer interfered with his host's life. However, he decided interfering in this battle would be in the best interest of his summoner. And help him atone for his actions in Menma's early life. Fox fire burst around him and enveloped the two sides of their consciousness, combining the two into one being. The god of foxes settled down onto his paws as he saw the now human minded form of sage mode calm down and regain his human mind.

Menma breathed in deeply as the fog that surrounded his brain was lifted. The last thing he remembered was entering the stage three senjutsu form. His head quickly shot up and observed his surroundings when he remembered what he was doing. He calmed down when he realized he was in his mindscape. He observed the changes that had occurred during his time away from here. The lake that had housed his chakra had become a virtual sea, expanding in all directions. He turned to where Inari resided and saw the ring of Tori Gates towering in the distance. He slowly made his way in that direction, not at all eager to face the old spirit.

Inari stared down at the host that sustained him for the past seventeen years. Gone was the weak human that had struggled through life. In front of him was a being that had transcended human limits and had become truly powerful. Perhaps now there was a chance against the Juubi. But for now to deal with the current situation "So you have come before me again Menma. What do you wish to ask of me?"

Menma stared at the large nine tailed fox and spoke "You are the god of all wild animals. Do you know of anything that could save Arachne? I do not wish to kill her or become the hive mind of the spider clan."

Inari closed his eyes in contemplation, telling Menma this information could bring a new terror to this world, or help save it. He observed Menma and nodded to himself 'Yes, that race could be redeemed under you, Menma. With a strong leader such as you they will not cause trouble for humanity again.' Inari opened his eyes and sat on his haunches "In order for you to save Arachne, you will need to destroy the current order of the spider clan."

Menma looked shocked "What? I do not understand, why would destroying the spider clan save Arachne?"

Inari continued his explanation "Because the spider clan was not always a hive mind. Long ago during the time of the sage of the six paths a race known as the Arubians once roamed the earth. They were an intelligent civilization, rivaling the greatest thinkers of the day. However, their one fault was an unquenchable thirst for conquest. They constantly went to war with the humans, killing thousands. However in a final confrontation with the humans, Kaguya cast a curse upon them, to make them mindless and only able to serve a hive mind of her choice. She forced them into an alternate dimension and put one of her lackeys as the hive mind. If you break this curse, and restore the ancient Arubian people, the final trial will no longer be necessary. However, you will need to prove yourself to the Arubians and become their leader. If you fail, they could become a threat to humanity once more."

Menma frowned as he considered his options but came upon a sudden thought "What about the many spiders in the Elemental Nations? Would they all transform back into Arubians?"

Inari shook his head "No, only the strongest among the spider clan will revert back to their original form. The spiders that you know today outside of this world are too far gone in the evolutionary chain to revert back."

Menma nodded, coming to a decision "Tell me how to release the curse."

(Arubian Throne Room)

Menma found himself in his real body, his arm scythe inches away from Arachne's throat. The woman had her eyes closed in acceptance, waiting for the final blow. However, instead of slicing her throat, Menma jumped forward onto the far wall and thrust both his scythes into the eye of the crystal on the far wall, completely destroying it.

Arachne opened her eyes in shock as she observed the actions of her successor " **What have you done? That crystal was an ancient** relic of the spider clan!" However she gasped when she recognized her voice before becoming the hive mind. She looked up at Menma, shocked.

Menma shook his head as he looked back at his mother figure "That crystal was no simple relic. It held the cursed chakra of Kaguya the Rabbit Goddess. It corrupted the entire spider clan, preventing them from achieving their true forms."

Arachne looked confused "True forms…?" She trailed off as she heard the sound of spiders scuttling towards them. She stood up and faced the entrances to the room as the proud figures of the Arubian people entered. In the lead of the swarm were three large Arubians. They approached the two and nodded their heads in respect. The middle figure approached further and spoke in a chittering, deep voice " **Greetings, I am known as the Prophet Aragog. These are my contemporaries, Prophet Vex, and Prophet Marrow. I fought alongside you against your blood kin, but I was in my lesser form then. We would like to thank you for releasing the curse that the witch Kaguya placed upon our people. We respect your strength and declare you leader of our tribe."**

Menma stared at the hundreds of Arachnids in the chamber and smiled a bit, now they had an army to fight the Akatsuki with. Madara and Kaguya would not stand against the combined weight of humans and Arubians. Menma stepped forward onto a higher platform and spoke to the gathered arachnid people "I am Menma Gorgon, Shinobi of Konohagakure, The Plaguebringer of the Elemental Nations. In the past this species was known as a blight upon the world! But now it will be seen as its savior, as we join together to defeat Kaguya's minions and the god that supports her! Join with me and we will create a brighter future for this world!"

All the Arubians cheered in their insect like voices as they worked to restore the halls of the Arubians to their former glory.

Arachne approached Menma from behind, feeling very proud of her pseudo son "So you were given two impossible choices and managed to find a third. I must say you surpassed my final trial by leaps and bounds."

Menma turned to his mentor for many years and spoke "I could not let you simply die…Elise."

The now named Elise smirked a bit "So you figured it out. Yes, I was the previous summoner of the spider clan. I did not have such an attachment with the previous hive mind and managed to kill him quite easily. But now that I am not bounded by the clan perhaps I can spread my web further, explore the world after this Akatsuki business is over."

Menma nodded "Why don't you join Konoha? It could be the start of your new life?"

Arachne smiled wistfully and looked at the working transformed arachnids "I might, it will be odd getting reacquainted with society but it will be a nice change of pace from the forest."

Menma nodded but frowned "But for now I must train on reverting to my human form, I cannot return looking like this. I will be mistaken for a demon."

Elise nodded "Yes, I will help you. The process is not hard once you do it the first time, but it will take several weeks to perfect switching forms instantaneously. In addition you will need to find the other benefits of that form besides the fancy blades."

Menma nodded and they exited the caverns to train.

Little did he know he would sorely need these new abilities for the battles to come in the future.

(Hidden Rain Village)

Five capsules opened revealing orange haired people clad in black cloaks. They each stood up revealing purple rippled eyes as they gathered around their master.

Pein stood in front of his paths and turned around in the direction of Konoha "Let's go."

 **AN2: And that's that for the 28** **th** **chapter. I know I rushed the Yami situation a bit but I wanted her to be full power for the Pein fight. Also the Arubians are very similar to their WoW counterparts in Sithilus, if you havn't played WoW they are easy to look up on google. Now their history, themes, and alliances are completely separate to this fanfiction. I only based them on the race in WoW. As for Menma's tier 3 senjutsu form, its inspired by Zha'Zix and Kerrigan from Starcraft. As always if you have any questions or comments feel free to post them. I read all my reviews and take your opinions into consideration when I write. (Such as unofficially removing Menma's Crossbow. Shesh you people dislike ranged weaponry.)**


	29. Chapter 29: Pain

**AN: Greetings Everyone. I just have a few words about this story and some updates for my next story that I'm planning after this fanfic. I have been receiving many reviews of people either hating my MCs move set or loving it. I want to say I based this fanfiction off of a poison and healing specialist, I really don't care that ninjutsu is stronger. Yes, ninjutsu can break the entire world if it is powerful enough but I just feel that a ninjutsu based Naruto is overused. There are many different types of different abilities in Naruto and the majority of fanfic writers only use the basest of Ninjutsu and some sub-elements. They either have Naruto having 3-5 of the elemental affinities then just have him spam huge bursts of power to win every fight. I feel that much of the Naruto universe is unexplored in fanfiction so I am using non mainstream abilities and making them as powerful as ninjutsu.**

 **Anyway after ranting about this story I have some updates for my next story. I am planning on using demons from the internet, games, and books for Fem Naruto to summon. I am currently searching through Diablo, WoW, Shin Megami Tensei, etc. I have decided to class the demons he will be able to summon into these categories:**

 **Seductress**

 **Corrupted Races**

 **Wraiths**

 **Manipulators**

 **Other**

 **Some examples of these categories would be the Eradar twins from Sunwell for Seductresses, Demon influenced Humans or other races, Void Walkers or Liches for Wraiths, Dreadlords or Diablo, and any other demon you can think of for Other. I am mostly basing my demons off of WoW (Since there's so many good ones there). If you have any demon you think is either cool or powerful, send me a small description of it and I may add it to the story.**

 **Anyway enough of the future stories and on to this one:**

 **Chapter 29**

 **Pain**

(Path to Konoha Gates)

Shio slowly walked back in the direction of Konoha. It had been two weeks since Menma had disappeared. No one had seen him since Jiraiya-sensei's funeral. A few days ago her parents had noticed how stressed she was getting searching for him and sent her on an easy C-rank mission to deliver a message to the Kazekage, her old friend Gaara.

She was on her way back but frowned when she noticed the birds flying away from Konoha. The only cause she could think of was if there was a big commotion in the city. She began to dash forward at her fastest pace, the landscape becoming a blur as she decreased the wind pressure in front of her. The wind mistress saw the gates in front of her and passed them, only to stop at the entrance and stare in horror at the scene in front of her.

The city of Konoha was gone. In its place was a large creator, looking as if god himself decided to remove the city from existence. She extended her senses and was horrified to realize that many of the city civilians and ninja were dead. She desperately searched the chakra signatures and nearly cried. She could not feel the chakra signatures of her Mother or Kakashi Sensei. She sensed the chakra of her father but it was very weak.

Shio felt a deep sense of rage when she saw the six figures in the middle of the disaster zone with the signature cloak of the Akatsuki. It wasn't enough that they ruined her life and tracked her down like animals? They had to take everything she loved and destroyed her home?!

She jumped down in front of the six pains and glared at them with her now heterochromatic eyes. Her left eye was sky blue while the other was a deep purple. The purple eye emitted smoke as the corrupted chakra of the Kyuubi evaporated into the air.

The lead Pein turned to her and spoke "Shio Uzumaki, there you are. Surrender and let yourself be captured or face the wrath of god.

Shio nearly growled in rage and began to use her latest technique that she discovered after combining her Yami's power with her own. Wind began to pick up around her and soon a tornado formed around her and the paths of Pain.

Pain observed the girl's mastery of wind manipulation but was unconcerned, his paths could absorb this attack easily. He frowned however as the tornado began to take a dark hue. He widened his eyes when he felt Kyuubi's chakra radiating from the wind.

Soon a black tornado was spinning in the center of Konoha. Shio glared at the Deva path "Black wind, the culmination of all my training. Unstoppable, unblockable, and unegatable. Nothing stands in the path of this wind. Prepare yourself butcher! Because this is your end!"

The tornado converged on the six Akatsuki members, however two of the Peins raised their arms and the leader shouted "Shinra Tensei" while the other simply formed a barrier around himself, protecting him and some of his allies from the wind. The Tornado imploded from the inside and directed the black winds around the battlefield.

Shio frowned, her wind should be nearly un-blockable from the tests she performed on it during her training. Even her mother's chakra chains could not block her winds. She decided to use another of her new techniques. She drew her sword and dashed forward, black wind spiraling around her like a wraith as she weaved in and out of sight.

The paths looked around warily as their target flickered around the barren field, hiding in the scattered dark winds. However they all found a large discharge of chakra and they all looked up only to see a large body hurtling towards them. Without a word the six paths scattered as the boss summon of the Toad Clan, Gamabunta slammed into the earth.

Shio landed on Gamabunta's head and dismissed her dark wind around herself and explained the situation to the large toad. Gamabunta growled as he saw the killer of one of their summoners. The toad clan looked after their own and had sworn to avenge their fallen comrade "Alright Gaki, let's do this!"

Shio nodded and shouted as she saw the Pein's grouping together again, probably preparing their own strategy "Boss! I need some oil!"

Gamabunta nodded and his mouth bulged as he sprayed out hundreds of gallons of the highly flammable oil.

Shio quickly went through some handseals and took out a paper bomb "Negate this!" She threw the paper bomb attached to a kunai and blasted it with her dark wind, causing a massive explosion to reach the toad oil, which ignited from the intense wind aided flames. Soon a large gout of flames spewed from the toad's mouth, engulfing the six paths of pain.

Shio observed the smoke that had emerged from the flame carefully, not believing the attack would have defeated the leader of the Akatsuki. Her observation was proved correct when missiles erupted from the smog and she was forced to erect a dark wind shield in front of Gamabunta to protect them from the explosions. Her eyes narrowed in anger seeing the six paths of pain perfectly fine after using one of her strongest combination attacks. It seems whatever she did could be negated by Pein.

She frowned as she observed the six paths. It seemed the one that shot missiles at her could turn parts of its body into a machine. The lead figure has some sort of repulsive and possibly pull technique. Perhaps he controlled gravity? She also noticed that another of the paths had managed to absorb some chakra from her earlier wind attack and fire attack. That left her to find out what the skills of the last three paths of Pein are.

The only female of the six paths jumped back and ran through some familiar handseals and pressed her hand on the ground, summoning a large three headed dog which roared in challenge at the boss toad. 'Well that solves that for another of the paths, apparently this one can summon mythical beasts.' Shio compressed wind beneath the soles of her feat and jumped high into the air above Gamabunt and ran through some handsigns "Summoning no Jutsu!" In two large plumes of smoke the generals of the toad clan appeared. Shio shouted her orders as the two large toads landed on the sides of the boss "Gamaken, GamaHiro, distract her summons while I take out the main bodies!"

The toads nodded and went to engage the beast. Shio turned back to the paths and frowned, she needed to get past the gravity and chakra absorber to destroy the other paths. She gripped her sword and prepared for the battle of her life.

And so the two titans fought, black wind clashed against the power of a demigod. She used every weapon in her arsenal against the pain, eventually managing to destroy the Asura and Preta Path. Unfortunately for her it was not enough to destroy he main path and he stabbed her in multiple places with his chakra rods, negating her chakra and pinning the Jinchuuriki to the ground. She could barely see past the pain but saw each path of pain, event he two she destroyed begin to approach her downed form.

The lead Pein finally spoke "The Jinchuuriki of the Nine-tails has been cap-" he broke off as a huge plume of smoke surrounded half of the crater that was once Konoha. Each path turned around only to widened their eyes to see an entire army of strange Arachnids. The army separated to let a figure walk forward. Pein vaguely recognized the man as Menma Gorgon. The man had changed since he saw him from the reports. The man wore a flowing kimono styled shirt with long coat like tails. The spider summoner also wore shinobi styled pants and shinobi sandles. But it was the eyes that had changed the most from the report. Menma's eyes now glowed a brilliant green.

Menma walked to the edge of the crater that was once Konoha and glared at the source of all this devastation. He saw the Rinnegan eyes of Pain and growled. He had developed a hatred for those eyes since he learned what they did to the world. He amplified his voice and spoke to the holder of the cursed eyes " **Pein. It is time to answer for the thousands you have butchered and slain. No longer will the world fear your madness. Today will be the day the Akatsuki and the world knows the power of the Arubians! Healers attend to the wounded, everyone else, ATTACK!"** Hundreds of arachnids obeyed his orders and charged down the side of the cliff, charging the six cloaked paths.

Shio watched in disbelief as her brother brought an army to fight her opponent. She looked up in shock as Menma appeared next to her and pulled out the stakes. The holes instantly healing due to the kyuubi's chakra. She stood up next to her brother and looked at the many strange spiders attacking the six paths, who were holding their own thanks to the gravity manipulator and spoke "We need to separate the gravity user or we will never win."

Menma nodded "Agreed, and we will do it. Together." The siblings nodded and both were engulfed in green light as they rapidly absorbed nature chakra into them. Shio's purple glowing eye turned orange as the nature chakra purged it of its corrupted influence.

Menma quickly went into his level three form and they both dashed off to the fight. The prophets were battling the large summons alongside the toads while the minor arachnids were overwhelming the paths with pure numbers. Only the Deva path was allowing them to group together to fight off the swarm. The spikey orange haired path turned around in shock as he was grabbed by the face by a transformed Menma and was hurtled far away from the battle into the training ground he and Shio fought so long ago.

The leader of the paths of pain stood up and observed his two opponents. They were both radiating power on par with his own. He glared as he felt the connection to his other paths go dark as they were overwhelmed by the strange arachnid species that Menma had summoned. He raised his arms in the stance of his gravity manipulation and spoke "You shall fall before god."

Shio growled "I see no god, all I see is a megalomaniac with ambitions to rule the world."

Menma agreed with her "Yes, you are far from god. You are simply a demon wearing the face of an angel to corrupt the world. Your reign of terror ends here."

Pein's calm demeanor twisted a bit as he glared at his opponents "You will not stop me. I will spread pain to the world to bring peace."

Menma brought his arm scythes in his stance and spoke "If words will not reach you, then you are to be put down like the rabid animal you are!" Menma dashed forward in a blur of speed and tried to slash at the tyrant but was forced back from the repelling force of Pein's almighty push.

As Menma was pushed back he pressed his feet into the ground and caught Shio's feet as she jumped above him and pushed her with all his supernatural strength at Pein. Who had to draw two long chakra rods to block the girl's Katana. Menma observed the two clash counting the seconds until Shio was blasted away by the force of the gravity attack. 'Five seconds, he has a five second interval before he can use his gravity manipulations. We will need to end him in those moments.' He decided to use the only technique he had managed to perfect after learning how to regain his human form in his few weeks of training. His scythes glowed dark green as he used his blood manipulation to send multitude of toxins into them.

Menma dashed forward, knowing he would be repelled. He felt the gathering of Pein's chakra and launched hundreds of chakra strands from his hands and grabbed onto Pein. He grit his teeth as the repelling force of the technique slammed into him and he dragged Pein along with him as he was blasted back. Pein looked shocked at first before sinking his feet into the ground to prevent being dragged any further, which was exactly what Menma wanted.

Using his chakra strings as a grappling line he dashed forward at great speeds.

4 seconds

He was nearing the Orange haired path and saw Shio coming from the opposite direction, golden wind spiraling around her as they both dashed forward.

3 seconds

They were almost upon the man, they both had their respective weapons raised in an overhead and underhanded swing as they attacked.

2 seconds

Pein blocked both attacks with his chakra rod and it was now a power battle as the three powerful shinobi battled for supremacy.

1 second

Pein smirked at the two and spoke "You are two late, Shinra Tensai!"

Both Konoha shinobi smirked as they were blasted back which confused Pein until he felt the chakra strings connecting him to both flying shinobi.

In opposite directions.

The Pein screamed in pain as his arms were separated from his body by the force of his own technique. It only got worse when the two flying back shinobi disappeared into piles of toxin and smoke respectively. He looked in front as Menma once again launched Shio forward who then cut the final path in half.

Shio panted as she stared at the mutilated corpse on the ground "Is it…over?"

Menma stepped forward and looked off into the distance "Not yet."

Shio looked confused but widened her eyes as she still felt Pein's chakra emanating from the distance with her senjutsu. She stood up shakily, but determinedly and spoke "Let's go."

(Paper Tree)

Nagato gasped in exhaustion as he felt his last path die. He was in no condition to move and both he and Konan knew this. He looked at the entrance as the two Konoha shinobi entered, both radiating hatred for him and knew this was the end of his dream.

Menma and Shio entered the fake tree and observed the real Pein. He had red hair like Kushina but was very emaciated and looked like a corpse. Next to him stood a blue haired woman also in Akatsuki garb.

The two sides observed each other for a few moments before Pein spoke "So you are finally here. I see you despise my method to bring peace to the world. Tell me, before you end this. Do you have an answer to bring peace to this nation?"

Shio frowned at the question. She did not have an answer to Pein's question.

Menma stepped forward and spoke "Peace can only be achieved if every human understands one another. This is inherently impossible. Your method of making the world feel the pain of loss is also flawed."

Pein frowned "Explain."

Menma reverted to his original self and explained "Pain is a very fleeting emotion. It hurts like nothing you have ever experienced. But it, like all things fade in time. Your method would bring a forced peace for a time. Perhaps even a few centuries. But it would be for nothing when the next generations forget the pain of their ancestors and get into arguments. These arguments will eventually evolve into more wars. Your method is only temporary and not bring true peace."

Pein narrowed his eyes at Menma's words and spoke "But there is no other way to end the constant wars that plague this land. Even if the peace is temporary it would be better than this endless hatred."

Shio frowned "What turned you into this Pein? What made you so pessimistic about life?"

Pein seemed to be considering something before speaking "I guess it would not hurt to tell you. My real name is Nagato. I was also once a student of Jiraiya-sensei."

Shio widened her eyes as Nagato explained his past. His childhood in the land of Rain. His training under Jiraiya. Yahiko's formation of the first Akatsuki. The betrayal by Danzo and Hanzo. He then told them about his decision to bring pain to the world to bring peace. At the end of his tale both Menma and Shio could understand his decisions a bit more.

Shio closed her eyes and spoke "I understand why you are doing this. But your methods and ideology are completely wrong!" She snapped her eyes open, revealing one eye glowing orange while the other glowed purple. She took out a book from inside one of her hidden pockets and showed it to Nagato "This is the first book ever written by Jiraiy-sensei. It is about a ninja who travels the world trying to break the chain of hatred. He says this book was inspired by a former student of his. I now know that student was you. Jiraiya believed that the path to peace was breaking the chain of hatred and I agree! If you put your faith in me I promise you that I will end the hatred in the elemental nations!"

Nagato looked wide eyed at the girl who declared that she would accomplish his dream of bringing peace to the elemental nations and closed his eyes with a short laugh "I can't help but putting my trust into you Shio Uzumaki Namikaze. I am glad that I met you before the end. Allow me to do one last thing, to help you accomplish your mission." The former leader of the Akatsuki clasped his hands together in a prayer formation and began releasing massive amounts of chakra."

Konan looked shocked at the jutsu he was using "N-nagato! If you use that technique you really will die!"

Nagato smiled at his sole childhood friend left alive and spoke "I have been dead for a long time Konan. The only thing that was left alive was an empty shell of who I once was. I know that now that I am not the bringer of peace for this world. But rather the two in front of me. This is the least I can do to help her dream…"

Nagato released one last roar of power as he activated his technique " **Outer Path! Samsara of Heavenly Souls!"**

Shio gasped as she felt the chakra signatures of people she felt were dead began appearing all over Konoha.

(Uzumaki Residence)

Kushina opened her eyes confusedly, the last thing she remembered was fighting an orange haired Akatsuki member.

(With Kakashi)

Kakashi opened his eyes wearily after his discussion with his father in limbo. It seemed what his father said was true. It was not his time yet.

(With Shio and Menma)

Every chakra signature she had felt died came back as Nagato continued his technique.

Nagato gasped for breath, his hair now entirely white as he spoke his last words "Shio…Menma…I do not have much longer but I have one last request of you two."

Shio and Menma stepped forward in acknowledgement "He looked the two in the eye and spoke "Protect Konan. I was not the true leader of the Akatsuki. The true leader is Madara Uchiha. He will hunt for my eyes. I wish for you to transplant my eyes into Konan. She will continue my legacy and help protect the world against his insanity."

Konan looked shocked through her tears "But Nagato! How can I take your eyes!"

Nagato smiled weakly at Konan "Please Konan. There is no one more worthy in my eyes for this last gift. I…love…you…" With those words Nagato breathed his last breath with a smile on his face."

Menma walked forward to the distraught woman "I can perform the surgery here if you wish."

Konan nodded, steeling herself for the pain of the eye transplant.

(A few moments later)

Konan felt the silk wrapped around her eyes as she felt the power of the rinnegan course through her. She could feel it integrating with her body. Giving her strength that she never had before.

Menma looked at the woman and spoke "What will you do now?"

Konan looked down "I will stay here for now. I will need to heal my eyes and Nagato was right. Madara would come looking for these eyes. I must protect them with everything I have."

Shio nodded in agreement "You are not in the bingo books and no one in Konoha saw your face so you should be safe there.

Konan nodded relieved "We need to bury the body first."

(Forest Glade)

A simple gravestone marked the grave of Nagato as the three stood in front of it in silence.

Konan finally spoke "I knew him my entire life. I stuck with him when we were children and when he descended into madness. I could not help him then, only support him by his side. He saw something in you Shio. I want to see what it is. I will join your cause. Not Konoha's side, but yours."

Shio nodded "We will bring peace to the world and end the chain of hatred. I promise."

Menma nodded "The Arubians will join in this alliance. It is high time for the world to be at peace."

The three of them stood there for a while in silence as the sun set in the distance. The sides had been forged, it was time for the end of the Akatsuki and the path to peace for the world.

 **AN2: And that's that for the 29** **th** **chapter. I can't believe we are already at the pein fight. I thank everyone who has supported me so far and hope they are always satisfied with my work. If you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to let me know as always. Peace out guys!**


	30. Chapter 30: The Fifth Hokage

**AN: Greetings everyone. It is time for the 30** **th** **chapter in the series. I can't believe I have actually made it up to that high of a number. When I started writing this story I expected it to last maybe 20 chapters with around 200 reviews. You all have blown me away with your support. As always I hope I meet and exceed all your expectations like you have exceeded mine.**

 **I also have been reading a fanfiction called Broken Angel by I Like Fear 1-2, great story btw I recommend it, and wondered if I should do my next fic as a harry potter fic or naruto fanfiction. It would still be the same theme, just in HP Instead of Naruto. If you have an opinion on this matter feel free to comment on it. It won't be an official pole until this story is almost over, but I would like to hear your opinion.**

 **Anyway after that bout of shameless advertising, since I haven't said this in a while I will say it again, I own nothing but my OCs and original techniques.**

 **After that pointless but necessary disclaimer I will respond to some comments.**

 **LunaGirl200: Ty for your comment and I have to agree, I started Menma/Naruto pretty young on the road to a poison specialist. I made this decision because I do not believe it is possible to master what he did in just let's say…a year. I gave him much more time to learn.**

 **Golum936: I am rushing this story a bit because I don't want to spend an entire year on one series. If I did not condense Naruto, I would be looking at around 100 chapters to complete this series. I have many more ideas I wish to explore after this series.**

 **DragonPony022: Ty for your comments about last chapter, made my day seeing someone appreciate it ^_^. And as for the romance bit, you will have to read on to see :D.**

 **AnimeA55Kicker: I agree that some stories just take way too long with each arc. I have seen some really good fanfictions never get anywhere due to having around 20 chapters for one arc.**

 **Chapter 30:**

 **The Fifth Hokage Rises**

Nearly everyone in the village celebrated the death of pain. Upon returning to the village, Menma and Shio were heralded as heroes. Konan used her paper technique to hide as thousands of villagers thanked the two ninja.

After the initial celebration it was a time of rebuilding for Konoha. Civilians and Ninja worked together to restore their village. However, there was an undertone of mourning for the entire village. One of the greatest heroes that the village had ever known had disappeared. Minato Namikaze had not been seen since he had used his Hirashin to evacuate every child and woman from the village from Pein's greatest attack. They had never found a body so there was still hope that he was still alive. But the question remained, where was Minato?

(Konoha's Council Room)

The temporary Hokage, Tsunade Senju had called everyone of importance to the council room. The Daiymo had arrived to help elect a new Hokage in the absence of Minato. The clan leaders, civilian council, elders, and every Hokage-worthy ninja was present. Many veteran elite ninjas such as Kakashi Hatake and Mait Gai were present. Even not as experienced, but still powerful ninja such as the two heroes of Konoha, Menma and Shio are present.

The Daimyo presided over the meeting and started things off "After the unfortunate disappearance of our beloved Hokage, we must elect a fifth Hokage. In normal situations we would be able to wait since Minato is not confirmed dead. However with the crisis of the Akatsuki and the annual Kage summit meeting we cannot afford to not have an officially elected Hokage. I give the floor to Tsunade to list the candidates decided by the councils."

Tsunade stepped forward and spoke to the councils "Currently we have five people under consideration for the Hokage seat. The candidates are Kakashi Hatake, Tsunade of the Sannin, Menma Gorgon, Shio Uzumaki, and Danzo Shimura."

Many council members began whispering to each other of the benefits of each candidate and their negatives.

Kakashi immediately stepped forward "I reject the position of Hokage, I am not suited for the job."

Tsunade and the Daimyo nodded, expecting this. Tsunade continued "I reject the position as well, we will leave it to the councils to speak on the merits of each remaining candidate."

The civilian council leader, Kaede Lotus, owner of most of the shinobi food stores in Konoha began the discussion "There are pros and cons to every ninja. However many of the cons revolve around their ages. Lord Danzo is older than Lord Third when he met his demise at the hands of the Kyuubi. On the other hand both Shio and Menma, while extremely skilled, are still in their late teens."

Hiashi Hyuga spoke next "While I do agree that Danzo is too old for the Hokage position, both Shio and Menma have proved themselves to be capable leaders and ninja. In addition, Sunagakure's leader Gaara was only fifteen when he was elected Hokage."

Many people muttered in agreement. Danzo stepped forward with a narrow eyed glare and spoke to the council "I may be old, but I still am quite powerful and a worthy candidate for Hokage. I am the most experienced shinobi and have been through two world wars. There is no one more worthy of Hokage than I."

Suddenly many councilors and even the Daimyo began to nod in agreement with Danzo's words. The old warhawk smirked until Shio shouted out "Danzo! Reveal the bandages under your left eye, now!"

Everyone went silent as Tsunade narrowed her eyes and spoke seriously "Explain yourself Shio."

Shio stepped forward and spoke seriously to the gathered councils "I have been using my chakra sensor since this meeting began to ensure that no one used genjutsu to manipulate the decision. I have detected chakra being activated located around Danzo's left eye. Coincidentally which is almost the same chakra pattern as Itachi Uchiha and Sasuke Uchiha when using their Sharingan."

Tsunade nodded her head and everyone looked at Danzo expectantly, waiting for him to uncover his eye."

Danzo looked around at his few supporters in the chambers but none of them supported him. It would seem that the revelation of him casting genjutsu to get his way in such a public place made them abandon him. He slowly reached up and undid the bandages around his eye, revealing the three tomoe'd Sharingan to the room.

Tsunade glared at Danzo "Explain this. Now."

Danzo did not seem shaken as he spoke "After the Uchiha Massacre I relieved one of their dead jonin of his eye to replace my lost one from the third Shinobi war."

Menma spoke up from where he was leaning against the wall "He is lying. Since achieving level three Senjutsu it is nearly impossible to lie to me." Shio nodded in agreement with Menma's words, her ability to sense emotions had long been released to the village.

Tsunade glared harder at this information and struck Danzo with her highest level of Ki. To anyone not of at least Jonin level, it would seem as if Tsunade had turned into a demon and the pressure made nearly everyone sweat "Danzo. Tell the truth."

Danzo frowned and knew he could not lie in this room, he also knew even if he called his entire root force, which consisted of only 40 men, he would still lose. It would seem that he had no choice "I obtained this eye from Shisui Uchiha."

Many people took a deep intake of breath as everyone remembered the incident with Shisui Uchiha's mysterious suicide. Tsunade spoke venomously at Danzo "Are you responsible for the death of Shisui Uchiha?"

Danzo glanced around the room, looking for possible exits. But the room had been deliberately designed for only one entrance to prevent assassinations. He finally spoke, preparing to make a break for it as he revealed this information "Yes."

Before Tsunade could order the ANBU to arrest Danzo Menma stepped forward "Are you responsible for the massacre of the former members of the Akatsuki?"

The room fell silent at this question. Tsunade looked questioningly at Menma "Explain yourself Gorgon"

Menma nodded and spoke "During the final confrontation with Pain's real body we were able to learn of his past. We also learned of the true origin of the Akatsuki."

Whispers broke around the council room as this information was revealed. Menma began pacing while keeping an eye on the traitorous elder "I learned that the Akatsuki were once a peace organization comprised of ten ninja to help end the third Shinobi War. However, that all ended when Danzo and Hanzo of the Salamandar allied themselves together to destroy this group. Hanzo had been feeling threatened by this peace group and allied with Danzo for information on the enemy. All at the cheap cost of killing all of Pein's friends and turning him into the psychopath we knew today."

Danzo said nothing as his past mistakes were laid at his feet. He was about to defend his case when Yamato stepped forward "Minato and I have been searching through Danzo's past for a while now to find incriminating evidence. However it was only till recently we found evidence of your treachery. We discovered that one of your underlings, Sai, who is still undergoing rehab for mental scarring, mental manipulation, the degradation of emotion and forced loyalty to you Danzo."

Tsunade spoke seriously "What did you find during this mission Yamato?"

Yamato glared at Danzo as he spoke "All information regarding the identities of our ANBU, patrol paths, supply routes, and ninja in the field. Everything Orochimaru would need for another invasion, all delivered by the hands of Danzo's subordinate."

Everyone was silent as they stared at Danzo, almost unable to comprehend the weight of his betrayal. Tsunade stood up and spoke loudly to the entire room "Danzo, you are to be executed for Treason, illegal child manipulation, illegal use of Genjutsu, and War crimes."

Danzo was silent for a few seconds before wrenching his arm out of his left bandages, revealing that he wasn't actually crippled "I may be revealed but I will not go down without a fight. My path is the only way this village will prosper!" After removing the bandages a large metal bracer was revealed. Danzo pressed a button on the bracer and NE members blew a hole in the roof and attacked many of the ninjas in the room. Tsunade quickly began issuing orders "ANBU! Kill Danzo and any of his underlings! Every able Ninja assist with this operation and defend the Daimyo!"

(Roof of the Council Room)

Danzo jumped through the hole in the roof and began releasing the bolts on his bracer. He had finally managed to release the last one as Menma and Shio jumped behind him, ready for combat. Danzo would have continued running but black wind encircled the entire council roof so no one could get out.

Danzo slowly turned to his two opponents and unclasped the last bolt from his bracer, throwing it to the ground to reveal his monstrous arm.

Shio and Menma gasped as they saw the many Sharingan eyes implanted in his arm. What was worse was the face of the Shodamine Hokage on his right shoulder. Menma glared at the traitor "So this is why you betrayed Konoha to Orochimaru. He was the only person who could give you that arm."

Danzo narrowed his eyes "Everything I did was for the prosperity of the leaf village."

Shio growled as one of her eyes began to emit purple smoke "That is bullshit and you know it! Nothing good can come from consorting with traitors and breaking the minds of children to be your slaves!"

Before Danzo could continue the floor beneath him shattered as Tsunade shot from the ground with an uppercut, smashing Danzo into the wind wall with such force that his entire body exploded, gore raining down on the roof.

Menma looked at the gore and spoke "That was…anti-climatic."

Shio was about to nod her head in agreement before her senses acted up "Lady Tsunade, dodge!"

Tsunade didn't even question her and jumped into the air to dodge a kunai stab from an unharmed Danzo. Menma observed Danzo, ignoring Tsunade's interrogation of Danzo's abilities during the battle and focused on a way to defeat the man. Tsunade had not killed a clone so he must have a way to either negate his death or create a powerful illusion to make them think he was dead. He no longer believed that jutsu could prevent death after witnessing Nagato's abilities.

He observed as Shio sliced Danzo in half, only for him to reappear once more forcing Shio to dodge an attack. He saw one of the eyes on the traitor's arm close. He widened his eyes, knowing what this meant "He can only revive himself 6 more times!" Both Tsunade and Shio nodded, attacking Danzo with greater vigor.

Menma quickly prepared to help, channeling nature chakra to only his arm a large scythe emerged from it. He dashed forward, reappearing behind Danzo's back and cleaved down with his arm, slicing Danzo in half.

Danzo reappeared and his third eye closed "There is nothing you can do! I am immortal! And now I will kill you all for the glory of the Hidden Leaf Village! **Mokuton Nativity of the World of Trees!"**

The top of the council room quickly transformed into a forest landscape, roots and branches attempting to impale the three ninja. Shio was easily able to cut the wood around them with her dark winds, leaving only the trees covering the outside of the chambers standing.

Danzo jumped into the air flashing through handsigns and shouted "Summoning Jutsu: Baku!" A large Elephant like animal smashed down upon the roof, only the seals that reinforced the building prevented it from collapsing. The elephant began to breathe in air at a rapid pace and shot them out in a wave of vacuum spheres.

Shio jumped in front of the attack and ran through handseals "Black wind wall!"

A wall of dark wind negated the vacuum spheres, allowing Menma and Tsunade to thrush themselves forward. Tsunade smashed her fist into the Baku, killing it instantly as she reduced its' skull to dust. Menma slashed through Danzo once again with his scythe, closing the 5th eye.

However he just reappeared forcing Shio to dodge a wind sabre thrust. Shio growled as she quickly cut the man's head off, closing another eye "How does he keep doing this!"

Danzo crouched at the edge of the roof before straightening up "You do not need to know that."

He dashed forward at Shio with a wind sabre, who only smirked as she countered the wind sword with her own, effectively slicing through it and Danzo easily "You're a fool to challenge me in wind Danzo!"

Tsunade quickly ducked a mokuton spear from Danzo and spun around and grabbed his arm "Enough of this! You will die for desecrating the bodies of the Uchiha and my ancestors!" In an instant she ripped off Danzo's entire left arm.

The man only had time to widen his eyes before he was drop kicked from Tsunade, smashing the man through the heavily reinforced floor into the chamber below, shocking the still fighting root ninja and Konoha ninja.

All of the root ninja felt the seal on their tongues disappear and in that moment they contemplated the death of their lord many of them were knocked out by the clan leaders and elite jonin in the room. The Daimyo straightened himself from where he had taken cover underneath his seat, a specially crafted desk that had enough seals to prevent anything below an A rank jutsu from piercing it "Well, that was definitely more exciting than most meetings I attend."

Many ninja in the room sweatdropped at his laid back attitude and returned to their seats after the ANBU escorted the rest of the NE members out of the building. None of the elite jonin or clan heads were injured since most of the NE members were just chunin level, nowhere near as skilled as the elite jonin in the room. The Daimyo sat in his seat seemingly in contemplation for a few minutes before speaking "Watching this event, and reading this report has given me a clear image of who this village needs to become the fifth Hokage." Everyone leaned in slightly as the Daimyo paused for dramatic effect.

The Daimyo continued with a slight smirk "So much like her father, It is my pleasure to announce that Shio Uzumaki-Namikaze will be the fifth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village!"

Everyone clapped at this information, Shio had proved herself time and again as a hero of the leaf. No one doubted her skill or ability to lead them.

Shio was stunned as she stood there, looking at Menma who was clapping, a proud smile on his face as he congratulated her. She saw her mother, who was currently seating on the Uzumaki clan head seat, crying with happiness for her.

The Daimyo noticed her stunned face and spoke "It is only proper, not only did you save the village along with Menma here, but you also prevented Danzo from escaping, and were critical in taking him down. You deserve this honor."

Shio nodded dumbly and after a subtle nudge from Menma shook her head and spoke "I am completely honored Daimyo-sama, I accept the position."

(Hokage Tower Balcony)

Shio stared at the huge crowd of Konoha citizens, everyone there to celebrate her inauguration to Hokage. She looked behind her to see Kushina, Menma, Kakashi, Konan and Jiraiya standing there, each supporting her as she walked out to the balcony.

She was adorned in the traditional Kage robes and hat as she addressed the people. She took a deep breath and addressed the crowd "I thank everyone for their support in me. I may not be my father, but I assure you that I will protect my home and my country just as dutifully as my predecessors! I will bring peace to this country and ensure that everyone will be protected!" Her speech continued, addressing issues such as the Akatsuki and the tentative peace with the other nations and how she wished to strengthen ties with them. At the end of her speech she lifted the Kage hat and shouted to the crowd "I am the Fifth Hokage! I will keep the will of fire burning so our precious village will continue to prosper!"

Everyone in the crowd cheered and began to chant her name in celebration. She continued to smile at the crowd as they began the celebrations. Feeling optimistic for the future. The Akatsuki may still loom, but they would be able to weather the storm ahead.

(Unkown Location)

In the dark void of the realm a dark dressed man with an orange swirly mask approached his work station. He flashed through multiple handseals before a poof of smoke revealed a glass jar with a floating eye in it. He lifted it up and chuckled a bit "Always good to have a spare."

Floating ominously in the glass the Rinnegan glowed.

(Unkown Location)

Minato woke up groggily and rose to his feet. He glanced down at the Kunai he had used for his hirashin and cursed a bit when he realized he had made a mistake on the sealing paper. He could be anywhere. He looked around before he noticed he was on the roof of a building in Konoha. He sighed in relief until he noticed the Hokage monument.

Why was Tsunade's face on the mountain?

 **AN: Aaaaaand that's chapter 30. I am so excited, my first story to reach that many chapters. I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. I contemplated making Menma Hokage but he was already leader of the Arubians. Anyway if you have any comments or recommendations feel free to review or PM me. Thank you for your support ^_^.**


	31. Chapter 31: The Five Kage Summit

**AN: Hello everyone! I knew last chapter's semi cliff hanger would throw everyone for a loop. Anyway I would like to apologize, I completely forgot that Jiraiya was dead xD. Ik I'm an asshole. Anyway I edited it so it should be fine now. Anyway apologies for that. Off of that note, some updates I wanted to share. I won't reveal any spoilers, but I will say one thing. The Minato in an alternate reality is going to be my version of the naruto filler movie when Naruto/Sakura go to an alternate dimension. In my version Menma/Shio will go to the dimension that Minato is in and bring him back.**

 **Anyway I will respond to some reviews I saw earlier:**

 **Guest: who commented on August 20: I will now laugh at you very loudly. A person with who commented with so many spelling and grammar errors trying to poke fun at a written work. Lol. I invite everyone to laugh at it. From what I can translate from your comment, Jiraiya being alive was a mistake on my part that is already fixed.**

 **T-ManBoy: The original author of Naruto liked to redeem villains. However I think there is a line that just cant be crossed. People such as Orochimaru and Danzo should not be redeemed. They performed war crimes and other heinous acts that would make even the Pope want to kill them. I do not believe Danzo deserves a glorious death.**

 **Luiz4200: While the idea of Minato going into Canon dimension would be an interesting fanfiction, I am not making this a sequel, just a story arc.**

 **Chapter 31**

 **The Kage Summit**

(Team Hebi's Hideout)

The members of team Hebi lounged around the living room of their base, discussing their next move. Sasuke spoke first to his teammates "Our primary goal of killing Itachi Uchiha is fulfilled. Currently we have no other goal, however none of you three are missing ninjas with bounties and I most likely will be able to get a pardon from Konoha from killing two of their most wanted criminals. However, are there any goals any of you have before we try to negotiate with Konoha?"

His three teammates looked at each other before Mikomi spoke first "If my old clan was alive I would be wanting revenge against them, but seeing as Kiri has already done that I have no objections."

Karin fiddled with her glasses, blushing as she spoke "I am happy just being with you Sasuke!"

Jugo nodded solemnly "You are my cage Sasuke, I will follow you wherever you wish."

Sasuke nodded, pleased "Alright, I do not wish to contact Minato Namikaze in Konoha, so we will make our way to the Kage Summit and talk to him there."

Everyone nodded in agreement and they began packing.

(Hokage's Office)

Shio grumbled as she looked at herself in the mirror "These robes make me look ridiculous!"

Menma scratched the back of his head behind her and answered sheepishly "It is a required tradition to at least arrive in your Kage robes. During the meeting you can wear whatever you wish."

Shio grumbled petulantly about the unfairness of the situation and changed back into her normal clothes. When she arrived from the dressing room she was dressed in her red battle armor. Menma noticed that the once gold trim on the armor was now a dark purple. He assumed Shio changed it after the events with her alternate personality Yami.

Menma smiled kindly at his newly elected Kage, knowing the last thing she wanted to do was attend this meeting.

Shio noticed the smile and turned away horridly to hide her blush. After merging with Yami and reclaiming her lust, she found herself very attracted to her former brother. He was very handsome with his slightly glowing green eyes and his long hair tied in a knot in the front and long in the back. He was wearing his now normal attire of a wide sleeved kimono top with spider web designs on the sleeves, he also wore black shinobi pants and combat boots.

She was very confused about the situation. Menma was not technically her brother and even if he was incest wasn't necessarily frowned upon in the village, just look at the Hyuga clan. The only problem was that she had no idea how to express to him her feelings. She was also concerned he would not love her back, after all she was a major reason for his neglect during her childhood.

Unknown to her, Menma was having similar thoughts.

Menma turned away coincidentally at the same time as Shio, hiding a small blush on his face from seeing his former sister in her armor. She really was quite beautiful with her spiky long blond hair, and her sapphire blue eyes. Her skin was tanned from having trained so often in the sun giving her an almost exotic look.

He sighed as he thought of the situation. Due to all of his genetic changes he was no longer considered a brother to her, more like a distant cousin. However he wondered how she would take it if he expressed his feelings for her. Would she accept? Or would she be disgusted by him?

He sighed at his inner dilemma. The poison user shook his head from those thoughts and looked at the door as Kushina entered the room. She now wore her shinobi attire and had tied her hair with two long bangs on the side of her forehead protector. Shio had chosen her mother as the second guard for the summit. Despite not being on active duty Kushina kept her training up and was still known as the red death in many countries for her actions in the third Shinobi war. The red headed Uzumaki smiled a sad smile seeing Shio, probably still mourning for her missing husband "You look lovely dear. Now, we are scheduled to arrive in a week at the Summit so we should leave by noon. I have already packed several lunches and camping gear for the two of you."

Menma blushed slightly at being mothered by Kushina but didn't object to it. It felt nice to have someone fix lunch for him for once.

Shio nodded at her mother and they began running to the village gates where a large crowd had gathered to see their Kage leave for the summit. Shio, Menma, and Kushina waved goodbye to the gathered villagers and sped through the forest towards the Land of Iron.

(One Week Later – Land of Iron Entrance)

Shio wanted to gape at the large cliff that the capital city of the Land of Iron was situated on. It appeared to be four roaring animals facing away from each other with a city on top. Kushina spoke from beside her "The Land of Iron people are steeped in tradition. They follow a strict code of conduct so be sure to behave yourselves here. Despite not being ninjas many samurai are very strong. I have even heard rumors that their leader, Mifune survived an encounter with Hanzo of the Salamander." Menma whistled quietly and Shio assumed it was because her brother studied Hanzo extensively due to the similarity of their styles. Both were primarily poison users.

She sighed as she adjusted her Kage robes and hat. She had no idea what the people who designed these robes were thinking. True they were very easy to remove in a serious situation, but the robes themselves offered no freedom of movement.

She halted her fidgeting when she noticed they were approaching the large gates to enter the capital. Samurai lined both sides of the open gates and stood ready for any disturbance from their guests. They walked through the gates and saw an elderly Samurai with bandages wrapped around his head. Shio recognized him as the leader of the Samurais, Mifune.

As they approached Mifune spoke "Greetings Hokage of the Leaf Village. My name is Mifune and will oversee the summit meeting. You are free to get ready for the meeting in your assigned rooms. The other Kage have already arrived earlier so the meeting will begin in two hours. Your assigned escort will take you to your rooms."

Shio nodded "Thank you Lord Mifune for your hospitality. I hope we can all reach an appropriate agreement in the coming meeting."

Mifune's glacial eyes seemed to soften a bit as he regarded the young Hokage "As do I Lord Fifth."

(Two Hours Later - Meeting Room)

All of the Kage's guards positioned themselves on the upper floor of the meeting room to keep an eye on the proceedings as the five Kage and Mifune discussed the Akatsuki.

Menma glanced over at the other guards and recognized many of them from the bingo books. He saw the third Tsuchikage's granddaughter, the apprentice of the second Raikage, and even his old friends from the Sand village. After observing the other guards he refocused on the meeting below.

Mifune sat at the head of the circular table and addressed the five kages "Please remove your hats and we can begin the meeting." Each Kage placed their hats on the table in front of them. Mifune nodded in approval and spoke "As you all know I am Mifune, leader of the Samurai. We are here to discuss the matter of the Akatsuki. They have become a problem for every nation in their relentless goal of acquiring all of the Bijuu contained within the Jinchuuriki."

The Tsuchikage, Onoki, snorted "I am not certain these Akatsuki are even that great. From what I heard they are almost all dead."

Gaara responded calmly to the diminutive man "Despite being small in number they still have the strength of eight of the bijuu. Even one bijuu is a serious enough threat to one village. What could the combined strength of eight of them do I wonder?"

Onoki glared at the young Kazekage "Hrmph! It takes years to be able to master a bijuu to warrant it a threat to an entire village. Not to mention one has to seal a bijuu into a young child for it to be properly integrated."

Shio chose this time to speak "Not if they wish to use it as a bomb."

That silenced the entire meeting and Mifune turned to Shio "Please explain your words Hokage."

Shio explained her previous words "It has come to the Leaf village's attention that the Akatsuki do not seal the bijuu within children, but rather a large statue. It was not until recently that we learned the use of this statue. The figure head leader of the Akatsuki, Pein, planned to use the combined strength of the Bijuu to unleash a devastating jutsu on each of the shinobi villages, uniting the world through pain. However, Pain was being manipulated from someone who we suspect to be Madara Uchiha."

The Raikage A snorted "Madara is dead. He has been so for centuries."

Shio shook her head "I do not know how he survived. But we have been finding more clues that indicate that he is still alive, working in the shadow of the Akatsuki for his own purposes."

The Mizukage Mei Terume spoke next "Do you have any proof that Madara Uchiha is the perpetrator behind the Akatsuki?"

Shio shook her head "Nothing concrete. However these beliefs came from two sources. The first being the traitor to this organization, Orochimaru's own personal notes and the figure head leader of the organization, Pein himself."

Onoki frowned "Trusting the word of a known traitor and the leader of the organization is an unwise decision. For all we know he could have been bluffing."

Shio folded her arms across the table and continued "Pain would have no motive to bluff in his situation. If he truly was the leader of the Akatsuki why would he claim that someone else led it when his death would dismantle the organization? I am certain Madara is behind this madness."

Before the two could argue further A slammed his hand upon the table, cracking it severely in the process and shouted "Enough of this speculation!"

As soon as his fist touched the desk every guard in the room sprang into action to defend their Kage from the enraged Raikage. Menma and Kushina jumped in front of Shio. Kushina had her sword drawn and Menma was in his Taijutsu stance. Every other guard had their respective weapon out as well as they protected their Kage.

However before it could get violent Mifune shouted "Enough! There will be no violence in this meeting!"

Every Kage motioned to their guards to stand down and remarkably everyone did so, disappearing back to the second floor in an instant.

Mifune regarded the turbulent Raikage with a frown "Lord A, I would ask that you refrain from such actions in the future. They do not reflect well upon your village. Now, tell us your point without the unnecessary violence."

A glared for a second before relenting "One week ago I received word that my brother, Kirabe, was taken the Akatsuki. The scouts who reported this confirmed that it was Hoshigaki Kisame that captured my brother. I do not have time to waste idling her with pointless speculation on the leader of the Akatsuki when my brother is more than likely dead by their hands!"

Shio frowned "You are not the only one to lose people to the Akatsuki Lord Raikage. Everyone here has lost loved ones to the Akatsuki. In fact my predecessor Minato Namikaze repeatedly requested meetings to discuss the Akatsuki that all of you refused to attend. I wonder why it is that only when all of you have lost Jinchuuriki or people to the organization that we meet."

The Raikage grimaced and settled back on his seat as some of the other Kage shifted uncomfortably. The Tsuchikage snorted at the blond haired girl and spoke "Just elected Hokage and already think you know everything. You should listen to the advice of us old people and stay out of the higher leagues brat."

Shio didn't fall for the bait and spoke "I would rather be inexperienced than so stuck in the old ways that I cannot see the middle path. You are known as the great fence sitter yet the only thing you have contributed to this meeting is negativity."

Onoki scowled as Mei Terume chuckled "I like you kid. However the reason Kiri has not accepted any of the proposals to band together against the Akatsuki is that we were conducting our own investigation on the actions of my predecessor, the Third Mizukage."

Everyone looked at the Mizukage, they all knew the actions of the previous Kage of the Hidden Mist village. Yagura had been partially responsible for the moniker of the mist village, the Bloody Mist. Mei continued her explanation "This is a secret of our village but due to current circumstances I feel that I should reveal it. We suspect that Yagura was being controlled by someone."

Everyone widened their eyes at this information. Controlling a Kage was nearly impossible due to their skill level. Shio frowned for a moment before speaking "The only genjutsu I am aware of that can control someone of that level is the mangekyou Sharingan. Everyone who has attained this level is accounted for except Madara Uchiha."

Onoki rolled his eyes "Madara is dead brat, it has been nearly a century since he died against the first Hokage."

Shio narrowed her eyes "Yet by all records we have a body was never found."

Before any of the Kages could retort a voice spoke from the ceiling "Indeed one was not."

Everyone in the room turned sharply to see a man dressed in the Akatsuki cloak and an Orange swirly mask. The man was seated casually on the third floor of the room as if he had not just infiltrated one of the most highly secure meetings on the planet.

All of the guards in the room once again took up positions near their Kage to confront the Akatsuki member. However before they could attack the man raised a hand in the universal sign of peace "Hold, I am not here to fight you all here today. I am here to make an announcement on behalf of the Akatsuki."

Gaara raised an eyebrow at the audacity of the man "You break into the Kage Summit meeting to send a message? What is stopping us from attacking you now and interrogating information of the Akatsuki from you?"

Menma quickly shut down that statement "Don't bother. We have encountered this man before. He has the unique ability to turn insubstantial. Any attack would just fade right through him."

Swirly mask chuckled before continuing "Correct. None of your attacks will be able to reach me. However I will not be able to attack any of you in my insubstantial state so the only option is for you to hear what I have to say."

A growled "Get on with it then."

The Akatuski member nodded before speaking "Surrender the nine tails and the eight tails to us or we will declare war on the Elemental Nations."

Shock reverberated around the room at the ludicrous statement from Tobi. Onoki glared at the masked man "Cocky aren't you? From our information there are only three members of the Akatsuki left. You have no army to make such a bold statement"

Tobi chuckled darkly before speaking "Don't be so sure. I have the power of seven Bijuu at my command. I will say it again, surrender the last two bijuu to me or face destruction."

The Raikage suddenly frowned as he registered Tobi's words "Wait, I thought you already had the eight tails!"

Tobi turned to A and the rest of the ninjas in the room could tell he was frowning "The eight tails managed to evade capture from the agent we sent."

A seemed to be very angry all of a sudden, but not at the Akatsuki which made the other Kage sweat drop.

Gaara refocused on the masked man and spoke in his usual calm demeanor "Who are you and what is your end game. Gathering the Bijuu and declaring war on every nation must have some purpose."

Tobi seemed to consider the young Kazekage for a moment before speaking "I guess it would not hurt to tell you all at this stage of the game. My name…is Madara Uchiha."

Onoki widened his eyes "Impossible! You would be older than I am if that is true!"

Madara shook his head "Believe me or not, it will be of little difference in the long run. As for my plans with the tailed beasts…I will use their power to enhance my Sharingan and cast a genjutsu on the moon, creating a worldwide Genjutsu known as the Infinite Tsukyomi. In this illusion there will be only winners, and the world will finally be at peace"

Everyone had shocked reactions to the revelation of the Akatsuki's end game. Mei glared darkly at the former leader of the Uchiha clan "Any peace achieved through an illusion is nothing but a lie."

Onoki snorted in agreement with his Mizu counterpart "I agree, it sounds more like you want to rule the world than save it."

Madara shook his head as if in sadness "I see I will not be able to convince any of you by words. Then so be it. I declare the start of the Fourth Great Ninja War!"

A growled "Enough of this nonsense, attack him!" Darui and Cee both attacked at the same time but achieved nothing as they passed through the masked Uchiha. Madara stood up a rip in space appeared behind him as he made his last words "Prepare your armies, your generals, your medics, and steel your hearts. For everything you have will be under trial by fire. For in the days to come the world will be bathed in blood as the moon reflects the worlds salvation." With his final ominous words Madara disappeared into the void behind him.

Mifune, who had sat quietly as the interruption proceeded spoke up in the silence "In light of this new information, I suggest, at least for a time, an alliance between all five ninja villages in light of this threat. Madara Uchiha would not so callously declare war without an army at his back that could challenge everything we hold dear."

Mei frowned and spoke "Who would lead this alliance?"

Shio decided to speak before the Kages argued on who would lead the alliance "I suggest we form a council between us. We will each lead a section of the military and regularly discuss tactics in a democratic system. If Madara wishes to bring the world under his control, only unity will stop him."

Every Kage agreed with her words and a council would be much better than one leader from a country the other four would not support. Mifune stood up and spoke "Then the council of Five Elements is formed. I pray that it will be enough to withstand the coming darkness. I suggest we each return to our village to discuss this with our people. Then return at a later date for more discussions."

Everyone nodded and began leaving the room, pondering over what they just heard.

 **Omake:**

(With Minato)

Minato observed his surroundings carefully and saw that Konoha was almost rebuilt from Pein's attack. He knew this was Konoha due to the Hokage monument, but why was Tsunade's face on the mountain? Was she elected in his place when he disappeared? He decided to find some answers from the woman herself. He looked at the sky and saw the setting sun and suspected it to be around 6 PM, early enough that the current Hokage would still be in his, or in this case, her office. He then used the hirashin seal he had placed in the Hokage office to disappear in a yellow flash.

(Alternate Hokage's Office)

Tsunade was drinking deeply from her sake when a yellow flash brightened the room for a few seconds and she nearly spit out her drink when she saw someone that everyone believed dead. Minato Namikaze stood in front of her. She was too experienced a shinobi to be tricked by genjutsu so she knew this man was not a fake. In addition she saw the telltale signs of the hirashin being used, and no one could replicate the technique after the fourth passed away.

The supposedly dead Minato looked at her as if he did not just return from the pure world and spoke "Tsunade, why are you the Hokage? And what happened to Shio and Menma? Last I heard they were facing against Pain."

Tsunade barely heard the question and spoke "Minato?! Is that really you? You have been dead for the past sixteen years!"

Minato's eyes widened a great deal "What!?"

 **AN: And that's a wrap for chapter 31. I am sure I will get some hate mail about that omake but it was necessary for next chapter. Next chapter will feature the filler movie where Naruto goes to a different dimension. However in this case he will be going to the Canon universe. Also I am sorry for the lake of action in this chapter. Since Sasuke is not the insane sociopathic revenge driven emo duckass he was in canon he did not break up the meeting. Anyway, as always feel free to review if you have a question or Pm me.**


	32. Chapter 32: The Return

**AN: Greetings everyone. I have been researching what my next character will look like. Currently my favorite look is Jari Hun from street fighter. I have also been looking at Malzahar's scarf/hood combo and I think I may also use that. It looks demonic but also like something a shinobi would wear, especially the hair style. Anyway if you have any recommendations on the next MC's looks feel free to throw me a suggestion if you wish. Anyway I noticed I have two new flamers in my reviews. I love it how people who have never written anything on this site, think they can just insult a story without any response. So therefore. I am going to break them apart in my ANs.**

 **So in short. If you flame me I turn on my flamethrower of constructive criticism.**

 **YuukiAsuna-Chan: In every comment you made, all you did was make wrong predictions and complain. You pretended your opinions were fact and then insulted the story without even reading the future. You made no recommendations to improve the story, just insults. If you dislike my story, that's perfectly fine. Write your own. If you think my story is crap write one yourself and make yourself happy.**

 **Galerians: I do not even know where to begin with you. Four comments with nothing but complaints about my choices of names and words. You didn't even criticize the story, just my choices of naming my characters. I used Arachne because I used some minor influences from Soul Eater. And Sticky binding web jutsu is actually a real jutsu used by the Canon spider guy under Orochimaru's employ. That isn't an original technique. As for the use of Asian terms such as sochi and ningen, it's a Japanese manga I am basing this off of. Are you just too stupid not to realize those are the terms they often use? Anyway I will say it again. If you dislike my story that's fine. But make constructive criticism instead of just blowing hot air.**

 **Impstar: Ty for actually making a polite constructive criticism on my story. I am sad that you are not going to read further in the story but I respect your opinion. As for your comment…I am not really sure what you mean by telling instead of showing. I do not use as much imagery I would use for an original story because most people most likely already know where everyone is. But ty for pointing it out and I will see if I can put more imagery into the story.**

 **As for everyone else who has supported this story thank you for your support and please do not listen to flamers. Or I shall blast you with my flamethrower of righteous constructive criticism.**

 **Chapter 32:**

 **The Return of Hebi**

Madara Uchiha frowned as he observed his work room. The Kamui dimension allowed him to work on many projects without any chance of being discovered. The kage summit meeting had not gone as he intended. He had wanted to send a corrupted Sasuke to the meeting to kill Danzo, who he had thought would become Hokage. But the brat went underground the minute he defeated Itachi. And now that Danzo is dead, he had nothing to bring Sasuke over to his side. It was unfortunate but Sasuke could no longer be used as a pawn on his side of the board.

The Masked Uchiha member looked around his work station and looked at a clear red orb and smirked. This would distract the Leaf village long enough for him to learn where the eight tails is located.

Besides, the Infinite Tsukuyomi needed a test run before he could enact his plan.

(With Sasuke)

Sasuke jumped through trees as he made his way to the path that the Hokage and his guard would pass through. They had decided not to enter the land of iron due to the many Samurai about and were planning on intercepting the returning entourage before they could reach the Leaf village.

As they flew through the trees Sasuke's right eye glowed a bit and Kalista was now floating beside him as he ran. He glanced at her and noticed she seemed to be contemplating something important. He frowned and spoke through their mental link 'It is not like you to be so contemplative.'

Kalista did not say anything for a while but spoke eventually 'I can sense where spirits go after we kill them with our power. I can tell if they go to the Pure World or Yami. You human often refer to them as heaven or hell. You have not noticed this because you have not taken enough souls with your powers to do so."

Sasuke nodded in understanding 'Is there a soul that you have claimed that went somewhere it shouldn't have?'

Kalista's frown deepened 'I find it strange that Itachi Uchiha's soul went to the pure world. I would have thought he would be in hell for his crimes.'

Sasuke felt his eyes widen at this information. How could his brother not be in hell? He knew the rules have to be a bit loose since the majority of ninjas were trained killers but Itachi murdered his entire clan in cold blood. He shifted his eyes back to the glowing invisible woman and voiced his thoughts 'How is it possible he went to heaven after everything he has done?'

The aspect of vengeance pondered over the problem for a while before speaking 'In my experience even the evilest of Shinobi have a chance to ascend to the pure world if they did everything for a good cause. For example, a shinobi could massacre a hundred shinobi in a war. But if there reasons for those killings were to protect the people of their village, they will ascend to the pure world. I can only assume that Itachi had a noble reason for killing his own clan.'

Sasuke looked forward again, contemplating what he had learned. In a small part of his consciousness he always believed that Itachi could have been innocent. But he had crushed it beneath his own desire for revenge. Could Itachi have a reason for the murder of his clan?

Before he could think further of the matter Karin spoke up "We are nearing their location. I can sense two females with massive chakra reserves and one male with a chakra signature that feels…toxic?"

Sasuke nodded "That's them. If things turn hostile never spill Menma's blood and don't block Shio's katana, dodge it at all costs."

The three of them nodded and they burst from the trees and landed before the three Konoha ninjas.

Menma and Kushina immediately went on guard as the figures burst from the tree line. Shio however only tensed slightly as she had recognized the chakra signature of Sasuke.

Sasuke raised his hands in a sign of peace to the three Konoha shinobi and spoke "Peace, I am not here to fight."

Shio looked at Sasuke's emotions, she could sense the sincerity in his words. She turned to her guards "He has no hostile intent. We can trust him for now." Both Kushina and Menma nodded before stepping back behind Shio.

Sasuke examined his old teammate. Shio had grown a long way from the tomboyish girl he knew. He decided to get straight to the point "I wish to rejoin Konoha. I have accomplished everything I can outside the village."

Shio stared at Sasuke coldly as she continued to use her emotion sensing to judge the emotions of the Konoha deserter. He had not said any lies. Menma beside narrowed his eyes at the Uchiha and spoke "So you leave Konoha for three years to join one of its greatest traitors and you think you can just come back with no problems?"

Sasuke smirked a bit "Seeing how I killed the two people at the highest level of Konoha's bingo book I think it can be forgiven."

Shio sighed and closed her eyes. Truthfully at the current state of affairs they needed all of the high level ninjas they could get. Furthermore the people behind Sasuke did not look like pushovers either. She opened her eyes at Sasuke and narrowed her eyes "Alright. You have one chance. If you betray us again I will end you personally."

Sasuke had to resist shivering at his old teammate's voice. Knowing that she was very capable of fulfilling that promise worried him. He nodded and Shio smiled slightly "It is good to have you back Sasuke, especially during these times. However who are the three behind you?"

Sasuke turned to his companions and introduced them "These are Karin, Jugo, and Mikomi Yuki."

Shio raised her eyebrow at the last name "I thought all the Yuki were extinct?"

Mikomi glared "No great loss there."

Shio wisely didn't say anything at that comment and spoke to the group "We should hurry back to Konoha. We can iron out the details there."

Everyone nodded and followed Shio as they headed back to Konoha.

(Hokage's Office)

Shio sat in her office chair as she looked over the files that each member of Sasuke's team had written about their abilities. All of her most trusted advisors are in the room as well as team Hebi.

Kakashi looked at Sasuke and spoke "I am glad you made the right decision Sasuke. It may take some time to regain the trust of your former comrades but we can use all the help we can get to fight Madara Uchiha."

Sasuke nodded "Yes, Madara helped Itachi murder my clan so I am more than happy to help you all fight against him."

Shio nodded "And why do the three who came with you wish to join Konoha?"

Sasuke glanced at his three teammates before speaking "We are a team and we decided together that joining Konoha was the best decision."

Everyone looked pleased at that answer. Konoha was founded upon teamwork after all.

Sasuke looked around the office once more before speaking "However I am surprised that you are the Hokage. Where is Minato?"

Everyone looked down sadly and Kushina spoke "He disappeared during the Pain attack. No one has seen him since. He is presumed dead."

Sasuke's eyes widened. Minato was known as one of the strongest ninja in the Elemental nations. Without him the war effort had lost a very powerful ally.

Shio sighed "All of you have the rest of the day off. Sasuke why don't you get yourself reacquainted with Konoha. Some of the old Uchiha buildings are still standing from Pain's attack so you and your teammates can live in one of them for the time being."

Sasuke nodded and everyone left the office.

Sasuke looked at this teammates and thought of the places in Konoha he could take his teammates first. He then remembered a promise he made to himself long ago "There is someplace I would like to stop first if that is ok."

Everyone in the team nodded and they traveled to the Konoha Graveyard. Sasuke stopped along the way to buy some flowers before they all stood in front of two graves.

Fugaku Uchiha

Mikoto Uchiha

It was the first time he had visited since the funeral. He had promised himself that until he killed Itachi he would not visit the graves. Sasuke placed the flowers upon the two graves before speaking "I avenged you two. Your souls are free now from the burden of being betrayed. I do not know why Itachi isn't being punished from his crimes but I promise to find out the truth. I will redeem the Uchiha and make our clan even greater than before.

He continued to talk to the graves for another hour. Simply telling them about his life, his friends, and his teammates. As he finished he turned to his team, more determined than ever to defeat Madara Uchiha.

As he walked away he did not notice the proud faces of his parents over their graves before they disappeared without a trace.

(Hokage's Office)(7 PM)

Shio sighed and rubbed her eyes as she finished the paperwork of accepting Sasuke and his three teammates as their own team in Konoha. Team Hebi was now officially team 14. Being Hokage was definitely as unglamorous as Minato hammered into her head when she had declared as a child she would become Hokage. He had gone in length about the miles upon miles of paperwork to get done. She wondered why he had never done as she did and used shadow clones for the simple paperwork.

She stood up from her desk and exited the building only to see Menma standing there waiting for her. She walked up to him and waited for him to speak. He seemed to be contemplating something deeply.

Menma eventually spoke "Would you like to go out to eat somewhere?"

Of everything she expected him to ask, that was not on the list. She wondered if he meant anything more than getting a simple dinner. She looked at his face curiously "Like a date?" If she did not have the ability to sense emotions she would not have been able to tell how much her question flustered her estranged brother.

Menma coughed into his hand to hide his blush, knowing it was likely useless against her emotion sensing and spoke "I guess it could be considered a date."

Shio grinned happily "I know a great place then!" The blond Hokage proceeded to grab the spider summoner's arm and drag him to Ichiraku Ramen restaurant. It used to be only a stand but thanks to the support of having the Hokage's family frequent the place, the Ichiraku family had been able to expand into a full bar/restaurant.

They sat at the bar when the owner and chef came to take their order "Shio! I haven't seen you since you became Hokage. I am glad your back!"

Shio grinned "You know I can't stay away here for long gramps!"

Teuchi Ichiraku grinned "Well I hope not! I would hate to lose my favorite and most valued customer. And who is your friend here? Your boyfriend?"

Both Menma and Shio spluttered denials while the ramen chef laughed at their expressions. Menma coughed into his hand before responding "Ah, no I am not her boyfriend. I am Menma, I often team up with Shio on missions."

Teuchi nodded "I see! Well then. What can I get for you two?"

Shio bounced happily on her seat as she gave her order "I will take five large pork ramens please!"

Menma looked at the menu on the wall before saying "I will take your large miso ramen please."

Teuchi nodded happily and left to prepare their food.

It was only thirty minutes later did their food arrive. Menma frowned at his bowl while Shio happily devoured her first. Shio glanced at the black haired youth and swallowed a large portion of noodles before speaking "What's wrong? You should start eating before it gets cold."

Menma looked sad as he stared at the noodles "I just realized this is the first time I am eating ramen with you."

Shio paused and tried to think of a time when they actually ate ramen together when they were younger. She frowned when she could not think of a single time she and her parents went out for ramen with Menma. She looked at her former brother and realized how much they had missed out on in their youth. She picked up a few noodles from his bowl and offered them to him "Then you should eat! Trust me the ramen here is the best in the village!"

Menma looked at the noodles before smiling slightly and eating them.

They were delicious.

(Two hours later)

Menma and Shio finished their meal and decided to take a walk through Konoha as they made small talk. It was when they reached the river that they stopped and simply stared at the reflection of the full moon did Shio finally ask what she had wanted to ask all night "Hey Menma?"

Menma turned to her questioningly and she continued "Do you..."

She was cut off when a voice above them spoke "Well well... the nine tailed Jinchuuriki and the Plague master."

Shio quickly summoned her sword and Menma rolled back his sleeve, his arms already turning purple as multiple toxins coursed through them. Madara Uchiha stood on top of a lamp post with a crystal ball in his hand. Shio gripped her sword tighter and spoke angrily "Madara Uchiha! How did you get in the village?"

They could not see his face through his mask but they could tell the Uchiha was smirking "That is unimportant. However, what is important is you both help me test the latest invention of mine."

Menma spoke in his coldest tone to the masked menace "We will have to respectfully decline to help you since you will die here."

Madara started tossing the glass orb in his hand up and down and spoke "Unlikely. Partial Infinite Tsukyomi!" With a final flick he tossed the orb high into the air until it hovered above the moon.

However before the jutsu could activate Shio slashed her sword and managed to crack the orb. Madara quickly looked at the damage orb as it shown with broken light in alarm "What!?" Before the masked manipulator could stop the jutsu both Menma and Shio disappeared. He looked at the cracked orb that had fallen back into his hand and frowned. The jutsu required the orb to shine the light clearly upon its victims. Who knows how a broken reflection would change the jutsu.

(Alternate World)

In a flash of light Menma and Shio appeared in the same spot they had just disappeared from. Menma frowned as he observed the area "Nothing happened?"

Shio looked around as well and Menma was correct. They had re-appeared in the same spot that they were previously "It seemed whatever Madara attempted to do failed. What do you think Menma…Menma?" She looked around and found Menma staring at the Hokage monument. She turned as well and stared surprise. Why was Tsunade on the Hokage monument?

Shio looked just as confused as Menma felt as they looked around. Everything was the same except for the Monument. Shio looked up at the sky and noticed that it was day time. It had just been in the middle of the night before Madara had activated his technique.

The fifth Hokage turned to her love interest and spoke "We should go to the Hokage tower. We have no idea if this is an illusion or not."

Menma nodded and they roof jumped to the Hokage tower.

(Hokage's Office)

Tsunade rubbed her forehead in exasperation. First Minato comes back from the dead only to be a Minato from another dimension. The alternate Fourth Hokage had told her everything about his own dimension. Nearly everything was the same except for a few differences. Namely the fact that he and his wife were still alive and were able to have two children. Naruto and Shio. He had told her about Naruto's abandonment and how he changed his name to Menma. She was reminded of Naruto's stunt with the partial Tsukuyomi where he met his evil alternate Menma. She was impressed when she learned that this Menma became her apprentice in Minato's home world. Minato had been quick to adapt as she remembered and quickly went to work on a solution to his problem and find a way home. He had inquired about the differences in her world and she had told him everything.

The meeting of Minato and Naruto had been very awkward.

(Flashback)

Minato stood in Tsunade's office. The busty Hokage feeling fatigued at what she just learned "So in your battle with Pain you overused the Hirashin and ended up using a faulty seal which transported you to this dimension."

Minato nodded cheerfully "Yes. I just need to figure out how to re-create the faulty seal and use the other hirashin Kunai in my dimension to transport me back. It should not take any longer than a month to make it."

Tsunade nodded thoughtfully "I will provide you with any materials you need to make your way back. Your old home got destroyed in Pain's attack but we can put you in an apartment."

Minato nodded "I would also like to meet my son of this dimension. It would be interesting to see the differences."

Tsunade smirked a bit when she thought of all the differences between Menma and Naruto. From how Minato described his Naruto she could not think of two completely different people.

However before the two people could continue their conversation the door was slammed open by the blond himself and his pink haired teammate "OI Granny…huh?!" The blond most likely would have continued his greeting but he caught sight of the one man he never thought he would ever get to meet outside of the remaining chakra in the seal "Father!?"

Minato scratched the back of his head awkwardly as he looked at his alternate son. He definitely looked like a younger version of him with Kushina's face. He wondered if Menma would have looked like this if he had not formed a contract with the Spider clan.

Tsunade sighed, she had hoped she could break this to Naruto in private before he met Minato "Naruto, we have much to discuss."

(End Flashback)

The meeting went fine after everything was explained. Naruto dragged Minato all over Konoha and they talked about their lives and got to know each other very well. She just hoped nothing else crazy happened until Minato returned to his home dimension. As soon as she thought these words her secretary poked her head in "Lady Tsunade? There is a Menma and Shio wishing to see you."

Tsunade proceeded to slam her head onto the desk. Why did this shit always have to happen to her?!

 **AN: And the Segway into the filler movie is done. I want to say that I may not be able to update as often since I am starting college soon. That or I may update more since I have no idea how busy I will be. Who knows. Anyway I am not taking engineering so I probably will still have time to update at least once per week. Anwayx2 as always feel free to make a suggestion in the comments. I value all your opinions (unless you flame).**


	33. Chapter 33: A Series of Alternate Events

**AN: Greetings everyone from college! I do not have many huge updates for this AN but I would like to thank everyone for the continued support you have written in the reviews. I am glad that many people have figured out that the filler is mainly to promote the romance between Shio and Menma. However there will be a fight scene in this chapter. I also noticed in the reviews that many people are confused why Madara did not ask for the Sanbi. That will be revealed in future chapters, it is not a mistake. Also, if anyone follows the League of Legends LCS I want to say congratulations to CLG for winning the regionals. I still hope TIP or Liquid will make it to worlds though.**

 **Anyway since I have been slacking on doing this, I do not own anything that I write except for my original techniques and OCs.**

 **Now that im done with that disclaimer I will review to a few of the comments I saw in the reviews.**

 **Megaxlr: What I imagine as Menma's greatest peak is poison skills better than Sasori and strength higher than Tsunade. I am basically making Menma the highest peak a poison specialist can go with medical ninjutsu and his spider summoning.**

 **Kuriboh1232: Ikr, the only things that redeemed that movie were those two and evil Naruto. I am almost sad that I am doing my own version of the movie since I can't introduce alternate Hinata or neji.**

 **Dragonpony022: Canon naruto at this point is not weak. Perhaps not as strong as his alternates but he did solo Pain. I would average Naruto's abilities at Shio's without her sword. However, I created Menma to be the polar opposite of Canon! Naruto, so personalities will clash.**

 **Now that I'm done with the formalities we can get to the actual story.**

 **Chapter 33:**

 **A Series of Alternate Events**

(Hokage's Office)

Tsunade rubbed her forehead as she stared at Shio and Menma. She still had difficulty believing that Menma was the alternate of Naruto. From merely a cosmetic standpoint they could not be any more different. Where her dimension's Naruto was bright and energetic, this Naruto was cold and intelligent. She shook her head and addressed her dimension hopping guests "So you were fighting Madara Uchiha, who was attempting to use his temporary infinite Tsukuyomi. But something went wrong and you both ended up in this dimension."

Shio nodded "It may sound hard to believe Lady Tsunade, but it is the truth."

Tsunade snorted "Oh I believe you. You are not the first dimensional traveler."

Menma raised an eyebrow "Oh? Has anyone else appeared in this dimension?"

Tsunade nodded "Yes, Minato Namikaze recently appeared here two weeks ago."

Shio widened her eyes, even she had begun to give up hope that her father was alive "Is this Minato our Minato? He disappeared during the battle with Pein."

Tsunade nodded "That sounds like the Minato that appeared here. He also described you two to me so I can safely assume this Minato is from your dimension."

Shio felt relieved for the first time since the fight with Pein. Despite all the events that occurred she mourned for her father. Now that they had found him they had a chance to get home with her father. She looked at Tsunade "Do you know where he is?"

Tsunade nodded "Yes, last I spoke to him he was headed to training ground 7 with our Naruto. You may head over there. I will tell the ANBU that you are allowed in the village."

Shio nodded and they both headed to the training grounds

(Training Ground 7)

Minato stood next to his alternate son as he demonstrated his rasenshuriken. It was a very impressive Jutsu. He knew Shio could do something similar by using wind manipulating around the Rasengan. Naruto was instead mixing a Rasengan with wind chakra, creating an entirely different and more devastating effect. He was very proud of this version of his son but it saddened him that even in this dimension his son had been forced to grow up alone.

He was about to ask Naruto how he created the jutsu before he heard a voice calling in the distance "Father!" He turned and widened his eyes when he saw his daughter running to him with a happy expression on her face.

Minato grinned widely as he embraced his daughter "How is this possible?"

Menma walked up to the embracing father and daughter duo "The Akatsuki attacked us, one of their attacks malfunctioned apparently. Instead of sending us to an illusionary world, it sent us to an alternate dimension."

Before Minato could respawn the local Naruto spoke up "Eh, other old man, who are they?"

Minato turned to the blond Naruto with a wide smile "Naruto, these are my children in my dimension. This is Shio, and your alternate Naruto who goes by Menma."

Naruto widened his eyes "Wow! It is really cool to meet you! Do you like ramen? Do you know awesome jutsu? How is Ichirakus in your dimension?"

Shio's eyes immediately lit up at the mention of ramen and Ichirakus and soon entered a very enthusiastic discussion of ramen.

Menma stood off to one side and felt a small sweat drop on the back of his head 'He meets himself and his sister from a different dimension and the first thing he asks is how the ramen is in his universe?' He stared at their conversation as they discussed in great detail the merits of ramenism, the belief in the ramen god.

Menma felt a cloud cover him in shadow and he despaired 'I am a happy go lucky idiot in this dimension.' Behind him the two blonds continued to talk unaware of the emotional turmoil they were bringing upon Menma.

After nearly thirty minutes of ramen zealotry Naruto turned to the two former siblings "Have you both signed the toad contract?"

Shio smiled "I have, but Menma signed the spider contract."

Naruto shivered "S-spiders! Gross!"

Menma's glared pointedly at Naruto "Spiders are not gross, they are worthy warriors and deserve respect."

Naruto frowned "But why did you not sign the Toad contract? Dad and Perverted sage both signed it."

Minato and Shio winced and they both looked at Menma with guilty gazes. Menma simply sighed "Due to issues that have already been resolved I did not want to stay under my Father's shadow. In the process I broke off from Minato's family and became my own person."

Minato lowered his eyes to the ground, he was happy that his son and he resolved their differences. But he always wished that he could have done so much more for his only son. Looking at this universes Naruto made his heart ache. Without him Naruto turned out to be a much happier if less intelligent. It really put into perspective how much he ruined his son's childhood. It was only due to Menma's own resolve that he didn't turn out to be another Orochimaru or Madara.

He looked up and noticed that Naruto was arguing with Menma about the importance of friends and family. He smiled slightly, it seems Naruto was doing his "friendship Jutsu" that Tsunade and Sakura described to him.

(Flashback)

Minato was drinking sake along with his Hokage counterpart Tsunade, simply talking about different topics. Slightly toxicated Minato spoke "I am surprised how different this Naruto is. He has had such a hard past yet can smile so openly and have such a free spirit. I wish my Naruto could smile like that…"

Tsunade snorted into her drink "Our Naruto is pretty messed up too. Did you know he made friends with a near emotionless avenger, redeemed a mad Jinchuuriki, saved multiple nations, and redeemed more than ten criminals with words alone?"

Minato blinked at this information, slightly stunned. He was known as one of the greatest negotiators of his day yet he had never done anything like that. Tsunade continued after a long drink from her sake "Yep. That kid can make friends with everyone. All he has to do is fight them with his friendship speech and he will worm his way into any heart. That will make him a great Hokage someday. I'm sure of it."

Minato smiled sadly as he looked at his reflection in his sake saucer. The Naruto of this dimension is amazing despite not being as strong or intelligent as his children. He wondered if he had supported his son, would he have been just as amazingly light hearted in his world as well?

He could only wonder.

(End Flashback)

Menma stood across from Naruto frowning at the situation. After arguing about the importance of family Naruto had challenged him to a spar. He sighed and began pouring his non-fatal toxins to his fingers "Do we have to do this Naruto? As you are you can't win."

Naruto cracked his knuckles and put his fingers into a ram sign and in a huge plume of smoke the training field was covered by over a thousand Naruto clones. He frowned and extending his chakra into a web, connecting one tendril to each clone and folded his arms together and waited for them to attack.

Naruto growled at the arrogance of his other. The bastard reminded him of Sasuke way too much for his liking. Not bothering to realize he called a version of himself a bastard he mentally commanded all of his clones to attack, each yelling their own war cry as they charged the stationary raven haired man.

Menma unfurled his arms and hung them loosely. Behind his sleeves small scythes emerged from his arms. As the multiple Narutos converged on him he spun around quickly, scythes rapidly expanding and cutting down hundreds of the blonds around him. As more clones attacked he decided to use the trump card he created at the start of the fight. Channeling his toxins through his web every clone around him popped as they convulsed in pain as the paralyzing toxin coursed through him.

The spider summoner frowned as he observed the training field. The original was nowhere to be found and he could not sense him with his web. He widened his eyes as he felt a massive surge of senjutsu chakra emerged from the forest. He quickly began absorbing more senjutsu by using his chakra web around him. The secret to spider senjutsu is that you are able to move while absorbing the chakra but you had to stay connected to your chakra web. The more complicated the web, the faster one can draw in sage chakra. Since he had connecting his web through nearly a thousand clones he quickly absorbed enough senjutsu to empower his body. Before the spider limbs could destroy his shirt he removed his arms from the sleeves and exposed his chest as his shirt hung below his waist. Four spider limbs burst from his back and he entered into his stance with his arm scythes and bladed appendages.

Naruto burst from the forest foliage with two Rasengans spiraling in his palms. Menma twisted his scythes to defend against the twin orbs and a loud grinding sound echoed through the training field as the twin orbs rotated against the senjutsu infused scythe. Soon the rasengans dissipated and Menma used the blunt side of his scythe to smash Naruto away from him.

With Menma's senjutsu and chakra strength infused slash Naruto was blasted back through several trees before stopping. Naruto grunted as his back slammed into a tree. Thanks to his senjutsu he was not seriously hurt but the attack had been jarring. Looking up he jumped away as Menma slammed down with his six arms, forming a deep crater.

Naruto quickly regained his footing and used his frog style martial art to kick the transformed Menma away from him, smashing him against a tree across the training field, kicking up a large cloud of dust.

As the dust dissipated Menma walked out of the shadow the dust caused, black blood dripping from his forehead, a manic grin stretching across his face.

Shio shivered as she knew what was about to happen. She had trained with Menma several times and managed to draw blood on several occasions. Menma's pseudo bloodline limit was extremely creepy but powerful. His blood was filled with so many toxins that he could control his blood and produce a greater amount to replace any blood he lost due to his jutsus. The only requirement is that he had to be injured to use it. She had asked once why he didn't simply cut himself to use his jutsu only to get a deadpanned look and comment "I'm not that desperate" to answer her question.

Menma chuckled as he touched the black blood dripping from his forehead and looked at the blonde shinobi "That was a mistake." Blood floated above his hand in an orb and Menma waved his arm at Naruto "Bloody Daggers!" the orb transformed into blood kunai and fired at Naruto in high speeds.

Naruto paled at the black kunai and dodged out of the way as the kunai splattered into multiple pools of blood on the ground behind him. Naruto took one look at the puddles before pointing at Menma angrily "Oi! What the hell!? What are you doing using jutsu from your own blood!?"

Menma frowned "My justu may be unusual but they are effective. After all…" he pointed behind Naruto.

The boy in question turned and his eyes widened as he saw ten black daggers floating behind him. Knowing he was defeated Naruto slumped his shoulders "Alright you win."

Menma nodded and the daggers flew back into Menma's forehead and the cut healed itself instantly. Menma sighed and released his senjutsu form, all spider appendages sinking back into his back as he re-adjusted his kimono top.

Naruto's eyes glinted as Menma dropped his guard down and disappeared in a plume of smoke. Behind Menma Naruto burst from the foliage with his fingers positioned into a tiger sign and shouted "Konoha secret technique! One Thousand Years of Pain!" Both Shio and Minato face palmed as they saw Naruto's technique. Minato sighed as he looked at the sky "Kakashi…you are not different at all in this dimension."

Before the devastating technique could land Menma caught the two fingers and deadpanned at his alternate "Just don't."

Naruto grinned "Then I will, Clone exploding Jutsu!" Menma widened his eyes as the clone exploded at point blank range. Menma jumped out of the smoke from the explosion, looking only slightly worse for wear as he searched for the real Naruto with his chakra web. As he spread his chakra throughout the forest surrounding the chakra web he widened his eyes as he heard a grinding noise from above him and dove out of the way as Naruto slammed into the ground with a huge Rasengan.

Menma flipped back onto his feet as three more Narutos converged on him with giant spiraling balls. Menma growled as he kept dodging clones holding large balls of death 'He has only two legitament jutsu. But he knows how to use them in so many different ways that he is completely predictable yet not predictable at the same time due to the versatility of the two techniques. He is a walking contradiction.'

Menma decided to increase his power and began charging more sage chakra into his legs and transformed them into the lower body of a spider. All of the Narutos stared wide eyed at the transformation before the half spider disappeared in a burst of speed, erasing all the clones in the field in an instant.

Menma reappeared in the middle of the field and glared at the space behind Minato "Show yourself Naruto!"

A rock behind the two spectators exploded and Naruto stepped out grinning madly at his alternate "You are so creepy but so cool at the same time!"

Menma growled a little at his alternate, couldn't he take anything seriously? Naruto smirked as he formed two clones beside him and they both put their hands together and formed a Rasengan with a shuriken like shell outside of it. The technique produced a loud shrieking sound that proved the power of the jutsu.

Menma frowned at the jutsu before absorbing more senjutsu into his final form and transformed into his most powerful form.

Naruto shouted "You better dodge this! Less power Rasenshuriken!"

Menma finished his transformation just in time and put his hands in front of him and strengthened his palms with as much toxins, chakra, and black blood as he could as the technique slammed into his defense. The technique warred against his defense as the two powerhouse techniques faced off against each other. In a flash of light a huge explosion erupted in the middle of the field.

Naruto widened his eyes in alarm "Crap! I did I go too far?!" Before he could rush forward to help his alternate he felt a blade on his neck and turned to see Menma behind him, still in his level one form and muttered "How?"

Menma chuckled a bit "You are not the only one who knows how to infuse clones with sage chakra."

Naruto widened his eyes and laughed loudly "Hahaha! I knew an alternate of me would have to know the awesomeness of the shadow clone jutsu! But maaaaan you are so awesome! You are super strong but super creepy that it just freaks me out!"

Menma sweatdropped 'That is a compliment…?' He sighed "Thanks…you are not bad yourself. If we had fought seriously I can tell this fight would have lasted much longer."

Naruto grinned widely "Yeah! Now lets go out for ramen friend!"

Menma sighed.

(4 weeks later)

Menma stared out over the village from atop of the Hokage monument, thinking deeply. He had spent two weeks in this dimension, meeting the alternates of his comrades from the leaf, and was severely disappointed. His teammates were not nearly as skilled as they were in his world. Yakumo was not even a ninja and Lee only knew the iron fist style. Sakura was a weaker form of himself, and Mito did not even exist. He had to wonder, if his parents had not abandoned him, would any of his friends be anywhere near as strong as they are now? Could all the events his childhood, result in a much better world than his alternate.

He glanced down at his hand and transformed it into its level three form. If he had not been abandoned he would have never met Elise, and never gotten as strong as he had. Even if he had already forgiven his parents the underlying anger had always been there. Long buried but still simmering underneath the surface.

But seeing this world…seeing himself, without his family or friends in his lives was a harsh shock to reality. It proved that even the worst moments of his life caused him to become a stronger person. A better person.

Perhaps…he should let go of his anger and finally accept who he is. The son of Minato and Kushina.

He opened his eyes when he felt the chakra of Shio came up behind him.

Shio rushed forward happily "Menma! Father figured out a way for us to get home! We are leaving tomorrow!"

Menma turned around "That's great. But Shio. I have something to ask you."

Shio looked at the spider summoner curiously "What is it?"

Menma turned to her, the wind shifting his hair behind him as he looked into her eyes "Do you love me?"

Shio widened her eyes in shock "Menma…what?"

Menma looked away from her at the statue of his father's face "The moment we leave this dimension…we will be at war with the remnants of the Akatsuki. I need to know now. So I can fight and possibly die with no regrets."

Shio looked into his purple eyes and sighed softly "Menma…you may be my brother, but I must confess that I have loved you for a long time."

Menma smiled happily, a smile that was startlingly similar to the Naruto of this dimension and hugged her, burying his face into her hair.

Shio wrapped her arms around him as well as they stood there in silence, savoring the moment.

Menma looked up to the stars and spoke softly "Shio…"

Shio looked up at him questioningly "Yes?"

Menma's eyes gained a look of peace that he had not shown since he was five "Call me Naruto."

 **AN: Ok, you people asked for romance. And you got romance. If you start flaming me for being all sappy then I will declare that love is officially dead. Anyway since I am at college I am not sure if I will be able to post as regularly, but I will try as hard as I can to finish this story and keep writing. I will not follow the path of so many authors and end this story pre-maturely. Anyway if you have any comments or intelligent criticisms you know what to do :D.**


	34. Chapter 34: Let Loose the Gods of War

**AN: Greetings everyone, time for the 34** **th** **chapter of this series. Man I am getting damn pumped for my next story idea. There are so many different influences for demonology I do not know where to begin. There are so many themes I could start off with, so many demon outfits, and so many types of demons. I have recently been researching a bunch of famous demon summoners or black magic users across the internet and I have stumbled across some good ideas. I could go for the goth Lolita look, modern professional looking, or something dramatic like Juri from mortal combat. Unlike a lot of fanfiction authors I usually change the outfit of my MC, as you can see in this story so I will prob mix everything throughout the life of the MC.**

 **Anyway I have been amazed by the responses my last few chapters have produced. No flames at all and with good criticisms. I am so proud of my reviewers. On that note I will respond to some amazing comments I have been reading.**

 **Waldo Santiago – Him accepting himself wont change him that much. He will be more familyish with the Namikazes and a bit more open to his friends. But his fighting stile, personality, and character traits will largely remain the same.**

 **Gogeta444 – I have the relationship experience of a nerd who has lived on the internet for his entire middleschool, highschool, and so far freshmen life. Yeah. None at all. I am bad at relationship scenes, which is why I dedicated an entire arc to make it easier.**

 **Luiz4200 – Naruto may not be a Namikaze in blood anymore, but he can still be a part of their family in spirit. After all, Kakashi was practically adopted into their family.**

 **Emilbootanimefreak – Thank you for your comment and I agree that I could have done more for his teammates such as Yakumo, but remember that he is an outsider and a stranger to the entirety of this Konoha. Imagine what would happen if alternate dimensions were revealed to the general public, people like Danzo would have power orgasms. Menma, Minato, and Shio's visit to the canon dimension was kept largely a secret by Tsunade, Naruto, and I think Sasuke trying to kill Sakura was enough to kick her out of her fan-girlism.**

 **Once again thanks everyone for your amazing responses and know that I appreciate every single one of them (Except flames, no one likes flames). I hope you guys continue to enjoy this story as much as I have had writing it. As we are nearing the close to this story I hope all of you keep reading till the end. Thank you :D.**

 **Chapter 34:**

 **Let Loose the Gods of War**

(Alternate Hokage's office)

Shio and Naruto arrived at Tsunade's office the next morning. Minato was already there finishing a seal on the floor. There arrival in this dimension had been kept top secret by Tsunade. Only people with direct relation to the dimension travelers were allowed to meet them. Which was why only Kakashi and Naruto were also in the room to send them off. Despite the death of Danzo and the dismantling of the foundation, Tsunade did not want any rumors spreading around about the rebirth of Minato or the appearance of his children.

Minato drew the last part of the seal before sighing heavily "Phew, this is definitely one of the most difficult seals I have created."

Shio looked at the seal curiously, she was no slouch in seals herself, but nowhere near her father's level "I recognize the basic structure of the hirashin, but with several layers overlapping it." The seal indeed shared a resemblance to the Hirashin seal with several circles surrounding the central matrix. Around the circle a triangle with smaller circles attached to each point finished the seal.

Minato nodded "Correct, I based this seal on my hirashin. It was difficult, but I altered the seal from traveling distances to dimensions. All we needed is an anchor to our original dimension. Thankfully I can use the faulty seal that sent me to this dimension in the first place. Now, I need you and Menma to stand in the circles. This will allow the seal to transport all of us instead of just myself."

Menma and Shio nodded and stepped into the circles, careful not to smudge any of the lines. You could not see his face but the three could tell Kakashi was smiling sadly as he watched his sensei about to leave. These past few weeks had been a dream come true for him. He had been able to meet his dead teacher, apologize for all his failings, and be forgiven for them. It had taken a large weight off his chest. He held back tears as he spoke "Goodbye sensei."

Naruto was freely crying as he saw a family he never had prepare to leave the dimension. He had treasured these past few weeks. Even if he met his parents in the partial infinite Tsukyomi, they were only a pale reflection of the real thing. The three in front of him represented everything he wanted in a family. A stern older brother, a fun older sister, and a wonderful father. He choked up as he spoke "I will miss you guys."

The three smiled sadly at the two and a large flash of light illuminated the room, forcing the three to look away. When the light died down the three had disappeared.

(Dimensional Gap)

Naruto, Shio, and Minato were free falling down a large blue tunnel as they were transported to their next destination. Shio shouted over the roaring wind as they fell "Is this how the Hirashin feels every time you use it!"

Minato shouted back over the wind "No! Traveling distances feels as if you are simply like a body flicker technique! But since we are traveling dimensions, it is going to be a bit rougher!"

Naruto glared at his father "And where will we appear when he reach our dimension?"

Minato shrugged as best he could since they were free falling "I have no idea! Theoretically we should appear where the Hirashin was used last!"

Naruto looked around the tunnel they were in, he could see flashes of different dimensions as they passed. He could see a Naruto burning Konoha, another him wielding a large sword he vaguely recognized as the executioner's sword, and another wearing an Akatsuki cloak fighting alongside Itachi. There were thousands, perhaps millions of scenes as they continued to fall. Unkown to him, but the others could see their own selves in the multiverse themselves.

Minato frowned as he saw many versions of himself abandon Naruto for some reason or another. It seemed that his mistakes spanned across dimensions. He took solace however in that there were many more dimensions where he was able to raise Naruto correctly and they grew up together as a family.

Shio looked out at the myriads of dimensions and saw many alternates of herself as they fell. Many of her alternate wielded swords or chakra chains as she fought her enemies. However she saw one dimension and blushed furiously. She could not believe that an alternate of her had that type of relationship with the Kyuubi. She would be very happy to get out of this tunnel. She looked down and began to see light and shouted over to her companions "I see the exit!"

Minato nodded "Prepare yourselves for landing! We have no idea where we are going to land!"

Soon the light turned brighter and brighter until they were forced to close their eyes as they prepared to enter their home dimension. Prepared to enter the war.

(Land of Lightning)

The recently reincarnated Madara stepped out of the coffin and stood next to the second Tsuchikage Mu. He glanced down at the allied Shinobi forces. He ignored most of them as trash but he could see a few strong shinobi amongst them. Namely the redhead leading the forces. Next to her was the Jinchuuriki of the Sanbi who had recently joined the war effort after escaping from Turtle Island. Next to the boy stood a swordswomen with a broken sword protecting a girl who appeared to be a genjutsu user. He could also see the third Tsuchikage hovering above the group. He looked at Mu "This was not part of the plan. What happened to Nagato resurrecting me with the rinnegan."

The impure resurrection caster spoke through Mu "There has been a change of plans. Nagato is dead and his lover has the rinnegan who is currently fighting your accomplice."

Madara nodded and turned back to the hundreds of Shinobi in front of him "Well then…let's begin." He jumped down onto the desert sand bellow him. And glared at the army in front of him with a Sharingan enhanced glare and dashed forward.

(Allied Forces POV)

The shinobi forced stared in horror as Mu summoned Madara Uchiha to the fight. Kushina stared at the man in shock "How is this possible! The masked man is supposed to be Madara!"

Yakumo shook her head "He must have been lying, but we should focus on the problem at hand. Madara was known as the strongest Uchiha for a reason."

Lee nodded "Yes, but with teamwork and my new friend Isobu I know we can succeed!"

Kushina nodded, Lee had stayed with the Eight tailed Jinchuuriki at Turtle island. Lee befriended the eccentric Jinchuuriki and the man taught Lee how to bond with his inner bijuu. Lee had passed each trial with ease and had befriended the three tailed turtle Isobu. The two apparently got on very well since the turtle let Lee use his chakra without restraint. He had even learned the bijuu's name. It slightly ashamed Kushina that she never even tried to befriend the Kyuubi upon seeing the relationship between the two.

Kushina shook herself out of thinking of the past and drew her sword "Hopefully we can defeat or hold him off long enough for Konan, Sasuke, and the rest of the Kages to defeat the masked man." Everyone nodded and they prepared themselves as Madara began to walk towards them.

Men and woman brought out religious idols and prayed.

Madara began to jog lightly.

People began to sweat as they felt the blood lust radiate from the ancient Uchiha.

Madara broke out in a full on sprint towards the allied forces.

The silence broke among the shinobi forces and they roared battle cries as they dashed to meet the Uchiha head on.

The initial battle was a massacre. Ninja fell left and right as Madara constantly redirected their attacks against one another. However Temari managed to blast Madara out of the main army and Kushina took charge "All non kage-level shinobi to support! DO not directly engage and provide support for us!"

The remaining jonin disengaged, allowing Kushina, Lee and Mito to directly engage the Uchiha. Madara pulled a sword from a dead Kumo ninja and engaged the three in a sword battle. The fight was a flurry of swords that seemed from a distance almost an elegant dance between the three swordsmen.

Lee jumped back from the fight and put his hands together and hexagonal plates covered his skin as he infused himself with the chakra of his bijuu. He flashed through handsigns and thought 'Deep Sea Coral Gauntlets!' Coral grew from his hands and encased them with diamond hard coral.

Yakumo, who had stayed out of the fight for now, finished drawing her paining and was about to cast her genjutsu. However, Madara quickly felt the chakra and converged upon her at fast speeds.

With his new gauntlets Lee dashed forward at top speed to intercept the Uchiha, the Bijuu's power propelling him forward as he reared his fist back to punch the undead Uchiha. Madara deflected the punch and they fought brutally as Madara repeatedly dodged the slashes and ninjutsu from the ninja army. It seemed almost if he had eyes everywhere on his body to deflect and dodge attacks from all directions.

Yakumo channeled chakra into her paining and the world around Madara twisted and transformed as reality warped from the power of the illusion.

Lee reared his fist back, taking advantage of the illusion, and thought 'If he can deflect any attack that comes at him, then I'll just attack him from every direction at once while he is distracted!' He dashed forward with his fist glowing green as he punched Madara. The Uchiha easily blocked the attack with his sword but Lee saw his eyes widen as he noticed the glowing green boxing gloves hovering around them. He had just broken out of the genjutsu but it was too late to stop the attack as hundreds of the green fists began to rain down upon the Uchiha.

Right before the fists hit Lee noticed his eyes change and was blasted back when Madara muttered the simple words "Shinra Tensei." The blast had also destroyed Yakumo's artwork ending the illusion and sending Yakumo away as well.

Madara crossed his arms as his eyes glowed with the rinnegan "Impressive three tailed Jinchuuriki. However it is time I showed you the true power of the Uchiha!" A massive purple warrior emerged around him until it grew as large as many of the stone pillars around them.

The shinobi gaped as they saw the large legless monolith raise four swords to cut them down. Lee jumped forward in front of the allied Shinobi forces with a large hexagonal shield to protect everyone from the four glowing swords.

Madara glared at the Jinchuuriki and spoke "How long do you think you will be able to protect them?"

Lee, perhaps for the first time in his life, glared hatefully at the cause of so much death "I will protect them with my entire body and spirit until all the flames of passion in my body have burnt to their pinnacle!" Lee reared back with his armored fist glowing brightly as he dashed forward and punched the Susanoo with a large glowing green fist nearly the size of the chakra construct.

The two monsters of the battlefield clashed, one with the power of his bijuu, and the other with the powers of his god like eyes.

Madara jumped back as he noted his Susanoo cracking severely from the strain of taking all of the blows from Lee "If you think you can protect everyone…protect them all from this!" He flashed through handsigns while his Susanoo mimicked him and shouted "Heaven's Conceal!"

Every shinobi looked up as a shadow enveloped the sand. Many simply dropped their weapons as they gave up as they gazed upon the god like power Madara wielded. A large asteroid the size of the size of the moon was rapidly approaching the ground.

Lee gazed at it for a few seconds before dashing forward and jumping into the air and spoke to his bijuu 'Isobu! Help me out here!'

In Lee's mindscape Isobu responded in his gravelly voice "Let us combine young one!'

The shinobi looked in shock as Lee transformed into a giant turtle that covered them. The turtle roared as hexagonal plates covered the shinobi and itself in a dome.

The meteorite hit the dome and Isobu roared once more as the shield barely held against the force of the space rock.

Madara smirked as he stared up at the three tails "Impressive, but how are you going to defend yourself against the second one?"

Just as the Shinobi beneath the turtle relaxed another meteorite was revealed from the cloud cover and slammed into the top of the first asteroid. The shield shattered and both giant rocks slammed into the shell of the sanbi, severely cracking it. The rocks broke apart and hammered the Shinobi bellow as Isobu shrank to reveal a knocked out Lee.

Madara dismissed the Susanoo and began to walk forward to retrieve the Jinchuuriki when a tri pronged Kunai landed in front of him and Kushina appeared with her sword in mid swing at his head. He blocked it easily with the sword he has scavanaged but kept his eye on the Kunai "I thought that was the fourth hokage's ability?"

Kushina smirked slightly "Who do you think taught him about seals besides Jiraiya?"

Madara smirked slightly at the woman as golden chains burst from her back, each with an Hirashin kunai attached and Kushina manipulated the chains to throw them all at Madara.

The Uchiha deflected the Kunai and moved to deflect a sword strike from where Kushina appeared only to feel his eyes widen as she disappear and slice through him from behind, slicing him in two. However since he was an Edo Tensei construct his body healed quickly. He tried to slash her back but she flashed away again to another kunai. He glared at her hatefully "This is pointless, you cannot defeat me for I am a god."

Kushina panted lightly as she held her sword tightly, but smirked slightly when she saw a shadow behind Madara.

Madara quickly turned around to counter whatever the person behind him planned, but he was unprepared for a massive slash of wind that came from the seven foot long katana in Mito's hands. As he was cut in half by the slash he thought quickly 'How did she fix her sword when it was clearly broken?!'

As he reformed he was forced to constantly be under siege from the quick strikes from the two swordswomen. With Mito's extended sword and Ki strikes boosting her, she was at the same level as Madara in terms of swordsmanship. With Kushina's added assistance the undead Uchiha was having to rely more and more on his invincibility.

Before they could kill Madara again light flared around him as he felt his spirit being detached from his body "So the summoner has been defeated. Hmph, worthless."

Kushina grinned happily "That means we won!"

Madara smirked "Not yet." He ran through four handseals and pressed his hands in a prayer sign and the glow stopped and he reformed with the previously decaying body "The weakness of the Edo Tensei is if the summoned shinobi knows the handsigns, they can summon themselves to this plane once the summoner is defeated. By doing this I now have a body that cannot die or run out of chakra."

Kushina grimaced "We will still find a way to defeat you!"

They resumed the fight, Mito and Kushina teaming up well to constantly prevent Madara from using his destructive ninjutsu attacks.

Madara frowned as he regenerated for the sixth time, one weakness of the Edo tensei was that you regenerate slower each time you suffer a metaphorical "Death." It was now taking his body parts longer and longer to regenerate. His eyes had nearly recovered after using the heaven concealment. He would have to use something else then. He flashed through handseals "Mokuton! Great Forest Emergence!" All around the battlefield, trees began to grow out of the sand and attempt to bind or stab the two woman as they dodged and cut through the foliage.

Madara smirked as he knew they would not fall under this attack. It was merely a distraction to allow his eyes to heal.

As Kushina and Mito emerged from the now forested landscape they were shocked to see the rinnegan once again active in Madara's eyes. Madara chuckled before speaking "It is time for you to now face true power!" Susanoo once again appeared around Madara. Except this time the spirit warrior now stood as tall as the mountains surrounding the desert. Madara looked down at them from the jewel of the being "Perfect Susanoo. No one has looked upon this form and survived. Let us see how long you two last."

Madara raised one of the Susanoo's lead and began to drop it down upon the two. Kushina and Mito looked up in horror at the large foot. Was this how they die? Crushed like insects?

However before the foot could squash them a flash of light appeared behind them and at the foot was halted an instant before it crushed them. Kushina and Mito looked up to see Menma standing there holding up the foot with one hand and smirking at them.

Kushina widens her eyes at seeing her son who had disappeared nearly a month beforehand and couldn't help but gasp "M-menma!'

Menma felt his grin widen "How many times will I have to say this? My names Naruto."

Despite the situation Kushina felt tears in her eyes as Naruto accepted his name that she and Minato had given him for the first time in ten years.

Shio and Minato appeared next to them, staring up at the giant chakra construct and Kushina felt hope for the first time since the start of the fight.

Naruto grunted as he foot began to press down harder "Alright…that is enough of that." He gripped the foot with both hands and infused himself with level one senjutsu and filled all of his veins with black blood and with a roar slammed the giant into the ground.

They all stood there as the giant began to stand up and Lee, who had just been revived joined them. As Madara once again gazed down at them Shio spoke for all of them "Alright, let the real battle begin!"

(Land of Lightning Coast)

Sasuke, Killer Bee, Kakashi, Might Gai, Konan, and the rest of the Kages panted as they stared up at the giant statue of the Gedo Mezo. They had soon discovered that Tobi was bluffing about having the three tailed Bijuu, but he had access to its previous holder Yagura. Due to Yagura dying with the bijuu sealed inside of him, he still had a large portion of the chakra inside of him which was easily put into the Gedo Mezo.

They had fought against the Masked man and his controlled bijuu for hours until they had forced him to merge all of the bijuu and parts of bijuu he had collected into an incomplete Juubi. The beast looked deformed but emitted such a powerful chakra presence. Sasuke stared up at the beast before speaking to his allies "We should join back up with the rest, we cannot fight the beast without them."

Killer Bee nodded "You got that right yo! We need tomato and three-o with us to fight this thing-o!"

The newly revealed Obito stared down at them as they fled to join up with their allies. He would allow them too, he needed to meet up with Madara as well.

(Land of Lightning)

All the kage level shinobi of the alliance gathered together and stared up at the incomplete Juubi with Madara and Obito riding upon its head.

Before they could resume the fight Naruto was brought inside his mindscape.

(Mindscape)

Naruto stared at the nine tailed god and frowned "Could you mind? I was a bit busy."

Inari looked down at the reflective pool beneath them before speaking "I never thought it would end up like this. The Juubi revived despite all my precautions and humanity's greatest heroes fighting against him. You will lose as you are now."

Naruto glared at the god of the wild "We will fight together and perhaps die together but we aren't going out without taking Madara with us first."

Inari shook his white fox head "It will not be enough. However, to redeem for my mistakes I will help you in this fight."

Naruto raised an eyebrow "What can you do to help?"

Inari's eyes glowed and a spirit like mimic of him emerged from his body and entered Naruto.

The spider summoner widened his eyes as he felt his chakra levels completely change to senjutsu chakra. He no longer felt forced to gather the chakra as it was naturally produced by his body. He looked up at Inari in wonder.

Inari spoke "I am the god of the wilds. Senjutsu is my domain and I have gifted you with the ability that I gave the sage of the six paths so long ago to help him end all of the wars in the world."

Naruto nodded and clenched his fist "Alright, let's do this."

(Real world.)

Naruto opened his eyes with a snap, revealing glowing green orbs with a white spider design and attached chakra strings to each of his allies, empowering them with senjutsu.

Each member of the group felt their power level rise ten times what they were used to and stared at the source of the power in awe as he radiated the power of nature.

Naruto glared up at the Juubi and spoke "We must win, for the entire world is at risk."

Madara gazed down upon the senjutsu empowered enemy before saying "Now. The Moons Eye plan will be complete."

With a roar that was heard for miles the two sides attached each other.

 **AN: and that's that for the 34** **th** **chapter. Man im getting chills being so near the end of the story. It amazes me that I got this far. Anyway if anyone has any comments or reviews you know what to do. Thank you all :D.**


	35. Chapter 35: Teamwork

**AN: Greetings everyone, time for the 35** **th** **chapter in the series. I am sorry for the long wait, I had a ton of things to do for college. But do not worry, I'm still continuing the story to the end As I'm nearing the end of the story im not sure if I am excited or saddened to be finishing my first story. Anyway, I am thinking of deleting my other stories besides this one. I simply do not have time to update more than one story.**

 **As for more information on my next story, it will definitely either be Harry Potter or Percy Jackson based. I may even do an xover. I am tired of writing about Naruto (especially having gone through the series many times to make sure my facts are right.) I am still going to use the demon summoner theme (it will be cooler with wizard skill sets I think). Remember, I am still considering suggestions until the end of this fanfiction so feel free to PM me or review with any suggestions or comments.**

 **But since you probably don't care about my other stories I will get to answering some of the reviews I saw.**

 **: Look everyone, a classic example of someone who simply doesn't read. I already explained in the chapter after his question how Tobi retrieved the ring.**

 **Lex: I love it when fanfictions go to the Canon universe to compare how the author changed the plot or characters. However, I don't think more than one in a story is necessary.**

 **Not that many reviews last chapter. I am not sure if that is due to their not being much to comment or that it was a bad chapter. Not sure. Anyway I will get to the story.**

 **Chapter 35:**

 **Teamwork**

(Land of Lightning)

The strongest members of the Shinobi alliance stood together against the strongest opponentns they had ever faced. The Juubi was resurrected before them with the two strongest Uchiha's in a thousand years on its head.

The battle was silent for a few tense seconds as they waited for each side to make the first move. Soon the silence was shattered by the Juubi roaring loud enough to shatter any fragile object miles away. The demon lifted an enormous claw, preparing to smash the alliance into paste.

The Tsuchikage took command of defense and shouted to the group "Every defense specialist block the beast's attacks! The rest of us will try and figure out how to destroy it and the uchihas!"

The group nodded and soon green panels, large rock formations, sand, and even cement was forming a wall to defend against the completed bijuu's relentless attacks.

The Raikage turned to the rest of the group and spoke "We need to defeat Madara and Obito and release their control of the Juubi. Minato, you take a small taskforce to the top of the Juubi while the rest of us focus on the body itself!"

Minato nodded in acceptance of the plan and quickly chose Kakashi, Shio, and Menma to head to the top of the Juubi.

Kushina rounded on her husband angrily "I have to go with you!"

Minato shook his head "Your adamantine chains are better for defense against the Juubi, don't worry. I will defeat them. Our children will be with me after all."

Kushina noticed how he included Kakashi in that group but nodded, tearing slightly as she saw the determination in his eyes "Good luck, you better return to me or you will be sleeping on the couch in the afterlife!"

The fourth hokage smiled sadly at his wife and threw a Hirashin kunai to the top of the juubi and called to his team "Grab on to me and I will take us up there." The four shinobi held onto his coat as they disappeared in a yellow flash.

(Juubi's Head)

The team appeared on the head and saw the two Uchiha directing the Juubi. Minato glared at his former student and his new master "It is time to end this Obito, I never thought the cheerful boy I knew could be reduced to this. But it all ends here!"

Obito gripped his warfan tightly as he shouted back at his sensei "Everything I have done. Everything I am planning to do. Is to bring peace to the world! You had your chance to bring peace! But you failed, and now I will send the world into an eternal sleep as they forget their hatred and finally accept one another!"

Kakashi's Sharingan swirled into its mangekyou form "There is no more reconciliation for you Obito. I will gladly reduce myself to lower than scum to kill you here today. The team seven of the previous generation ends here today!"

Menma looked at the duo and spoke "Shio and I will take on Madara, you two face Obito."

The two older shinobi nodded and they separated.

(Kakashi & Minato vs Obito)

Minato made the first move and dashed forward at Obito who responded by dashing forward at the same time. Minato had a mental flash back as he threw his kunai at his students head. He remembered all the good times he spent with team 7. Obito had definitely been his favorite student despite his failings. And now they are forced to fight to the death on top of a primordial god.

He shook himself out of his thoughts and threw his Hirashin kunai at Obito's head. The kunai sailed past Obito's head as they nearly reach each other. Time seemed to slow down as Minato teleported himself above Obito, the Rasengan already spiraling into existence in his hand.

Obito recognized the move from their last battle and spoke as the ball approached his back "Do you think I would fall for the same trick twice?" He stayed ethereal and allowed Minato to pass by him once more. He smirked as he saw the Rasengan drill harmlessly against the Juubi and began to absorb Minato into his kamui.

Minato threw a kunai away to avoid the suction before replying "Maybe not, but you seemed to forget I am not alone this time!"

Obito only had time to widen his eyes before Kakashi dove straight into his Kamui portal. The Uchiha stumbled back in surprise at the action before turning his body intangible to dodge another Rasengan from Minato. Obito glared as his father passed through him and spoke "Can't you see it's useless. With the mangekyou Sharingan I'm invinc- urk!" Obito paused abruptly in his monologing when he hunched over, as if being punched from a fist to the gut.

(Alternate Dimension)

Kakashi smiled beneath his mask as he buried his fist into the chest of his former teammate. He remembered how they came up with this strategy to defeat Obito.

(Flashback)

Minato and his most trusted ninja stood in a sealed off room. They could not risk anyone overhearing there conversation. As everyone arrived he spoke to the room "I have a plan to counter the masked man's intangibility."

The assembled ninja focused on the Hokage as he described his theories on the space/time technique that Madara uses "I have researched his ability from the descriptions of everyone who has fought him and I discovered something very interesting. Madara does not simply turn intangible, he removes himself from this plane of existence."

Menma frowned as he tried to comprehend what his father was saying "Are you suggesting that his ability sends him to another dimension?"

The Fourth Hokage nodded "Ever since our journey to the alternate dimension, I have been studying dimensional travel. Through this research I have been able to figure out how his technique works. Madara sends pieces of himself to another dimension while using genjutsu to hide his missing body parts to make it seem as if he is intangible. What we need to do is send someone to this dimension to fight Madara with someone else fighting him on the outside. This would effectively negate his intangibility."

Shio looked contemplative as she questioned the plan "Who would go into the Kamui? If Madara dies the person would be stuck on the other side."

Minato smirked a little "Yes, but we can summon him from this side as long as we have an imprint of his chakra."

Kakashi spoke up next "Or I could go in, my own Kamui can send objects to an alternate dimension. Perhaps I could send myself to the dimension and back."

Minato nodded "Yes, just remember, when we fight them, jump into his Kamui to negate his intangibility."

(End Flashback)

Before Kakashi could hit him again the chest piece disappeared and he looked around the dimension. It seemed strangely familiar to him but he could not figure out why.

(Real World)

Minato attacked Obito viciously now that his intangibility was negated. They jumped over the back of the Juubi, seeing flashes of the other battles out of the corner of their eyes as they fought each other. Memories of the past continued to haunt them as they aimed to kill each other. They clashed once more with Obito's kunai struggling against a tri-pronged knife. Obito widened his eyes as Minato disappeared behind him and he was forced to enter his Kamui.

(Kamui World)

Obito was forced to dodge a Rakiri when he emerged into the Kamui and soon the two teammates were engaged in the battle of their lives. Obito growled as he jumped back and flashed through some handsigns "Fire Style, Fire Cyclone!" the Uchiha spat out a massive firestorm that circled like a twister at the grey haired jonin.

Kakashi activated one of his newer techniques he had perfected over the years "Lightning style, Raikiri Drill!" In a spirling motion all down his arm lightning emerged forming a perfect drill around his arm. With a burst of speed Kakashi tore through the fire technique and was about to pierce Obito when he disappeared into the real world.

Kakashi was forced to send the energy of his attack outward and created a large explosion in the empty space.

Unknown to the jonin the black sky of the dimension started to crack at the amount of chakra being released inside of it.

(Real World)

Minato was ready as Obito appeared with a Hirashin Kunai and managed to cut Obito's cheek. The Uchiha was starting to look worse for wear after constantly fighting two separate fronts in his Kamui and this dimension. Minato knew it was time to finish this. Summoning two shadow clones next to him he formed a Rasengan in each hand while the clones added wind chakra. He felt an echo of his alternate son nod to him as he used the signature technique he learned over these past few weeks "Rasenshuriken barrage!" Minato gathered all of the chakra he could spare and burst it from his palms propelling the two spheres forward at fast speeds towards the Uchiha.

Obito could barely enter his Kamui as he was dangerously low on chakra. As he entered the bleak dimension he winced as his arm was heavily cut as he was a bit late on entering this dimension. He looked up to see Kakashi with a sword of lightning extending from his hand. He felt that his chakra was too dangerously low for him to fight so he began to drain chakra from the dimension he was in, desperate to survive and realize his dream.

However the two stopped as they heard a large crack from above them. They looked up and widened their eyes as the ceiling of the dimension began to rain down on them and an ethereal green light was seen behind the cracks.

Kakashi looked at Obito and noticed he was just as surprised as he was at this development. He wondered what could be causing this before his eyes widened as he recognized that light. It was the same light he saw in Limbo. He frantically looked around the dimensions and saw the similarities to the plane of existence he was when he died in the battle against Pain.

Without knowing it they had been fighting in the realm between life and death.

And they had just broken the gates to Hell.

(Naruto & Shio vs Madara)

The Uchiha Patriarch stood on the Head of the Juubi looking down upon his two opponents. He was silently glad for this development. The strongest of the next generation against the strongest Shinobi of history. It was fitting he supposed.

They were about to begin before a green light emerged besides the two Uzumaki and Sasuke emerged, glaring at Madara.

Shio looked at her former teammate in surprise "Sasuke?"

Sasuke didn't spare her a glance as he looked up at the source of all his pain "I will fight alongside you in this battle."

Narto smirked likely as he prepared himself for the fight of their lives "This will be the hardest fight of our lives."

Shio gripped her Katana as Sasuke readied his ethereal spears. Sasuke smiled as he remembered something Kakashi once said "Then there is only one way to win this."

Shio smiled happily as she too recalled the memory "That's right, the only way is-"

Despite not being at the team gathering Menma understood what they are talking about and spoke at the same time

"Teamwork!"

Madara drew his war fan and spoke to the three below him "Together or alone. It makes little difference. You shall all fall as so many before you. Now come forward, let us dance to decide the fate of this ruined world!"

(Naruto, Shio, and Sasuke* vs Madara)

Shio dashed forward as soon as Madara was on the move and Katana and War fan clashed in a blur to the untrained. Sasuke too dashed forward and was throwing spears rapidly at his ancestor. Naruto knew he could trust Sasuke and Shio on the offensive as he helped to support them. He spread out his chakra strings and attached them to the two and sent healing chakra, energizing poisons, and nature chakra to the two to help them fight the immortal Uchiha.

Shio roared as she swung her glowing sword down upon the Uchiha. Her eyes were already glowing with yellow energy as she used the Kyuubi's and sage chakra together. Despite the ferocity of the attack Madara managed to deflect it with his reinforced fan and batted her away with a compressed wind blast.

As Sasuke felt the sage chakra enter his system his glowing green body turned an ethereal blue as the nature chakra mixed with his Kagatsuchi. He began to rain spears down upon Madara, smirking as many of them seemed to injure the Uchiha before he regenerated.

Menma channeled healing chakra to Shio as she got blasted away and dashed forward to engage the Uchiha while Shio gathered herself for another attack. With a roar he slammed his palm into Madara's war fan, causing a large explosion of air pressure to be released behind Madara. With his palms glowing with the amount of chakra he was charging into his hands he began to batter the Uchiha with swift but devastating punches and palm thrusts, trying to break his guard.

As they fought Naruto noticed a small crack on the handle of the war fan and felt a series of tugs on the chakra string that was attached to Sasuke and did one last palm thrust before jumping out of the way of a massive spear that drilled into the almost impenetrable war fan that Madara wielded.

The older Uchiha struggled to keep his fan intact by channeling mokuton chakra into it but it was no match for the nature chakra enhanced Kagutsuchi spear. In a large crash the spear broke through the fan and bore a hole into the undead Madara.

Shio dashed forward with a seal and got close to the Uchiha.

Madara saw the girl nearing him with a seal and shouted "I cannot be ended here! Susano'o!" The menacing chakra construct rose above Madara and he smirked, knowing he was safe from any attack.

Naruto stretched out his hand while shouting "That won't work this time!" Thousands of chakra strings emerged from his hand and attached themselves to the Susano'o "Spider Style, Life Drain!" Chakra from the construct began seeping into all of the strings back to Menma and everyone he attached his chakra strings too, refilling all of their chakra pools from the endless supply of Madara's Edo Tensei shell.

Madara grunted as he felt more and more of his chakra began to leave him, his Susanno'o was showing signs of severe cracks as he struggled to keep his chakra under control to sustain the technique "Something like this will not defeat me!" He forced the construct to cut the chakra strings.

Naruto winced as the chakra backlash of having so many chakra strings cut reflected onto him "Do it now! I can't keep him bound for much longer!"

Shio and Sasuke dashed together, the former avenger had a hand on Shio's guard, sending his ethereal power into the weapon. Soon her blade was shining as powerfully as Sasuke's spears.

Shio gripped her blade tightly as she decided to use her strongest sword technique. Sending a large amount of wind chakra to her feet she seemingly disappeared and four bright flashes of green light emerged around Madara.

Shio knelt on the ground behind the nihilist and sheathed her blade "Swallow's Final Dance."

The Susanno'o seemed to cry out as it was sliced to pieces. Madara struggle to regenerate himself since his chakra was still fluxuating from Naruto's chakra drain attack. Before he could fully regenerate a glowing green spear pierced his heart. He was surprised when he suddenly felt pain in his chest. He can't feel pain in an Edo Tensei body. He looked down at the spear and was surprise to see the face of someone he long thought he had dealt with. Kalista was grinning at him victoriously from the spear as she clutched at his soul bound within the dead body he possessed. Kalista began to tear his soul from the carcass "Finally Madara…I will have my revenge!"

Sasuke stared in shock as the spear he had used transformed into his mentor and widened his eyes as she dragged the soul of Madara, screaming and begging for release, back into Yami.

Shio, Naruto, and Sasuke stared at the spot that Madara once stood, slightly stunned.

Shio asked hesitantly "Is it…over?"

Naruto shook his head as he stared at the Juubi below them, still struggling to breach the defenses of the shinobi alliance "No, we need to deal with this beast."

However before they could react they heard a large crack as the very walls of existence seemed to break apart. In a swirl of darkness Kakashi appeared with Minato, each looking very scared.

Naruto looked at the jonin seriously "Kakashi, what is happening?"

Kakashi looked hauntingly at his sensei's son "The end of everything."

Before they could ask him what they meant they realized that even the Juubi halted its actions as the cracks spread over the sky.

Soon the entire sky shattered as green mist seeped into their world. The only thing remained was the green tinted Moon and Obito staring down at them with black eyes.

 **AN2: And done for this chapter, finally. I had a lot of trouble thinking how to combine my plot with Izanagi and Izanami instead of the Canon Naruto. I, along with many naruto fans I suspect, disliked the instant inclusion of Kaguya, but liked how it was revealed she manipulated the entire naruto world. I am doing something similar with Izanami but you will have to find out next chapter. Also to every LoL fan out there. How the fuck do you get out of bronze. I made it to the promotion series for silver and lost every match due to Yasuo. Each time xD. I will update in a week prob. Peace :D.**


	36. Chapter 36: Messiah

**AN: And here it is. Chapter 36. Most likely the last chapter of this story. This will be the hardest chapter to write due to making sure I end this story on a good note. Anyway as for my next story, I am thinking of having it be a three way xover between HP, Percy Jackson, and Shin Megami Tensei Devil Survivor 2. I am still ironing out the details but if anyone wants to make any recommendations or comments I will always see them and respond back within a day.**

 **Ill respond to some of the reviews from last chapter.**

 **Crusifik70: Yeah sorry about that. I forgot sometimes that I returned his name to naruto.**

 **Waldo Santiago: I am not sure what you are confused about but you can PM me if you wish.**

 **Gawain-Knight of the Sun: That was actually one of the stories I considered, but HPxNasuverse is a bit overused. I mean, there are already such great fics for that such as Fates Gamble (Very highly recommended, prob my favorite Fanfiction). I know this is hypocritical saying I will include elements of PJO but it will only be minor influences.**

 **LordGhostStriker: Of course, it wouldn't be a manga based fanfiction if I didn't kill some form of an omnipresent god for the final boss.**

 **Anyway lets get to the story!**

 **Chapter 36:**

 **Messiah**

Everything was silent. The thousands of shinobi, civilians, and animals; stayed silent as they stared in the direction of the goddess emerging into their world. They could feel the omnipresent feeling of despair and hopelessness prevail through them as the aura of Izanami pervaded the land. Even the Juubi was silent, recognizing the presence of his creator.

The body of Obito rippled and transformed into a black haired women who Naruto vaguely recognized from the vision he saw in his mindscape. None of them could move as the presence of the god forced them down.

Izanami did not gloat, nor did she monologue. She simply smiled motherly down upon the earth and the Juubi transformed and began to pull every human into the world into an endless sleep.

The five shinobi on top of the now fully transformed bijuu could only stare in horror as the Moon's eye plan was enacted by the goddess. They watched as the wooden tendrils slowly crept towards them.

However before they could be ensnared within the illusionary world a bright flash overtook them and they knew no more.

(?)

Naruto slowly opened his eyes as he became aware of his surroundings. He appeared to be laying on the clearest water he had ever seen. Blue crystals glittered beautifully over the landscape while a setting sun hung over the distance, bathing the sky in a nice orange color.

He stood up and looked out over the landscape and muttered, despite knowing he would not get an answer, "Am I in heaven?"

Despite his initial thoughts a voice answered him "No, but you are close."

He turned his head and saw an old man next to him. The man looked to be worn down and tired, his white hair laying lifelessly down his back. His clothes looked like they had seen better days. However despite his appearance he recognized the man "Lord Izanagi?"

Izanagi smiled sadly at the spider summoner "Yes, you must be surprised to see me. Lord of heaven in such a state."

Naruto nodded, curious to what had caused the most powerful god to become so weathered. Izanagi sighed and looked out at the setting sun "I am the god of all the goodness of humanity. My strength is reflected upon the universal consciousness of all of humanity."

The mortal pondered this information and came to a startling realization "The last time humanity was peaceful was…"

Izanagi nodded "Yes; Izanagi is very clever. She manipulated humanity from her seal to hate and despise each other. Weakening me, while strengthening her. Reviving the Juubi, the personification of hate and misery, was a masterstroke. It unbalanced the consciousness of humanity so much that she was able to break free from her chains while weakening me to this state."

Naruto frowned "Is there not anything you can do? Izanagi is currently sealing everyone in the infinite Tsukuyomi."

Izanagi chuckled lightly "I already have."

The spider summoner raised an eyebrow in confusion "What have you done?"

Izanagi smiled sadly, as if he knew he would lose something as he explained "I only saw through Izanagi's plan eighteen years ago. By that time I was too weak to stop her, but I had enough strength to provide the world with a savior that could help mend this broken world."

Naruto began to feel a sense of trepidation as he asked the unspoken question "Who is the savior?"

The god of human goodness sighed "The savior of this world is you Naruto."

The supposed savior of the world looked confused at the god "Me? I am the last person anyone would think of as a savior. I am simply the formerly neglected child of the Namikaze family. I am steeped in darkness."

Izanagi nodded sadly "All true. But those were my own mistakes that you turned out this way. As I said before, Izanagi is very clever. She learned about your existence through her latest pawn, Obito and planned a counter measure. Using the small amount of chakra she had in Inari, she coerced Obito to attack Konoha with the bijuu. Once the beast was sealed she was able to subtly manipulate Inari to caste a genjutsu to make it so you were neglected. This neglect led you down the path of darkness. It is a miracle in itself that you were able to pull yourself out from the abyss."

Naruto's head was spinning. All his life he had searched for the final answer of his existence. He had thought Inari was the source of his pain, but now he knew that everything bad in his life led to Izanami. He looked at Izanagi again "But why me. Why of all the new born children in the world did it have to be me?"

Izanagi sighed "You must realize, Naruto, that there are many universes in the world. Each one connected to each other in the most interesting of ways. In each world there is a Naruto. Each Naruto, for good or bad, prevents Izanami's plans from succeeding. However, what if there was a world where a "Naruto" did not exist?"

Naruto widened his eyes as what Izanagi was telling him finally made sense "You mean that…?"

The god nodded, "Yes, you were never meant to exist."

Naruto did not know what to think. He was never supposed to exist? What does that mean? Was he some outsider invading in this world? He glared at the god "What do you mean I was not supposed to exist? I have a heart, a soul, a body. I have feelings and emotions just as everyone else. God or not what gives you the right to say I was not meant to exist?!"

Izanagi sighed "Because I was forced to mess with fate to bring you into existence. This world needed a savior…no, it needed a Messiah. Someone to lead them into a brighter, and better world where Izanami cannot influence it."

The confused ninja nearly gripped his hair in frustration "But I can't be some sort of messiah! I am just a"

Izanagi interrupted the boy "An eighteen year old that has mastered senjutsu, mastered the chakra of a minor god, restored an ancient people back to their true form, and master a new branch of ninjutsu. That does not sound like a normal ninja to me."

Naruto frowned "So you are saying that all my accomplishments are the work of divine intervention?"

The god laughed "Of course not my dear boy! Everything you have done is through your own hard work. You may have been brought into existence by me, but you were nothing but a regular human with the devices at your disposal to be great."

Naruto smiled slightly at the reassurance "But that does not help our current situation. How am I supposed to defeat a god alone?"

Izanagi chuckled "Who said anything about being alone? You have friends don't you?"

The jonin thought back to everyone who had helped him get this far in life and nodded "Yeah….I do."

Izanagi smiled and began to walk away towards the setting sun. Naruto looked confused at the old man before shouting after him "Wait. Where are you going, you haven't told me how to defeat Izanami!"

The god turned around and smiled "You already know." In front of Naruto's eyes the god seemed to de-age until he was a blond haired version of Naruto with golden eyes.

The look-alike spoke happily "You are a part of me after all." The god then turned and walked into the distance, breaking apart into particles of light that flew into the distance as he did so.

Naruto stared out at the sunset and realized Izanagi had never answered his question of where they are. He looked around one last time before smiling sadly. Of course, where else could he be but the place he felt closest to heaven.

Inari walked over to the boy and sat down next to him watching the sunset.

Naruto turned to the fox and offered his hand "Will you fight with me, just this once?"

Inari stared at the human for a long moment before placing his palm on the much smaller appendage " **Just this once, human."**

Naruto smiled happily.

(Real World)

Naruto breathed deeply as he opened his eyes. Everyone was still entrapped in the giant tree but he could still feel all of their chakra signatures as if they stood beside him. He looked at his arms and noticed they were covered in a white fire. If he had a mirror he would see that his entire body was covered in white flames, turning his hair white. His normal black robes had turned white as well and it now looked similar to what Izanagi wore.

He looked up at the dark goddess and instinctively knew how to float up to the sky to join her. Floating off the tree he leveled with the god and they stared at each other for a long moment.

Izanami sighed softly "I see that my fool of a husband's last resort has finally emerged."

Naruto glared at the goddess "I will defeat you."

Izanami laughed at the ridiculous statement "How? All of your precious comrades are in my illusion. You are alone."

Naruto smirked softly at these words "You are wrong." Izanami looked puzzled at this statement.

The human spread his arms wide and felt the very world begin to empower him "I am never alone. Humanity does not wish to fade away. Everyone you entrapped, even if they themselves don't realize it, but they all believe in me. And that is all that matters. Tell me Izanami, how are gods created?"

Izanami's face twisted into a snarl as she realized what the boy in front of her was implying.

Naruto smiled smugly as he gathered more and more nature chakra "That's right…gods are created when enough of humanity believes in their existence. That is the source of your power. And just as there is always darkness in humanity, there is always hope as well!" At these words nature chakra began to flow into him in droves. Strengthening him with the hopes and dreams of humanity.

In every cocoon among the tree the dreams of the people trapped in the tree transformed into the same landscape that Naruto has just left. In the dream world Shio looked around at the gathered people and looked to the sky thinking 'Naruto…' Without them even realizing it, they all pointed to the sky and formed chakra strings and sent them into the sky.

Soon he transformed into level three senjutsu, except this time the insect like wings transformed into a colored glass like texture. Chakra strings connected him to every person connected to the Juubi, filling him with even more power.

Izanami looked at the empowered human with disbelief, how could an ordinary human rise to the power of a god?

Naruto glared at the representation of humanity's darkness and raised an arm scythe "Let us dance Izanami." Pointing his wings downward he shot towards the goddess.

Soon they were engaged in a fierce fight. Naruto using his arm scythes along with his new sharp wings against Izanami's sword.

Down on the ground the Prophet Aragog stared up at the battle alongside the other summons who had been called for the battle. Aragog could not find the correct words to describe the battle in the skies other than "And so the spider fights fate and frees himself from the web of despair and flies free…"

Naruto flies away from the battle and flashes through some hand signs "Toxic style, Drops of the Lethe!" Golden orbs of poison flew at the goddess at startling speeds.

Izanami attempted to dodge but one of the orbs connected to her arm and dissolved it instantly. She attempted to regrow the limb but was shocked when her arm refused to regrow.

Naruto smirked smugly at the goddess "The poison of the Lethe removes whatever it touches from existence, even for you, it will be difficult to regrow."

The dark goddess growled and formed a new arm out of darkness "You will pay for that boy!" Izanami formed a bow out of black flames and began firing volleys of Amaterasu flames at the newly formed god.

Naruto clasped his hands together but knew he may too late to dodge the thousands of dark arrows. Before he could do anything a wall of green hexagonal plates formed in front of him. With wide eyes and turned to the side and saw an image of Lee grinning at him with both thumbs up.

The arrows pinged harmlessly against the green wall and Naruto flew at great speeds towards the goddess. Izanami made to retaliate with her sword but swung in the wrong direction and Naruto managed to cut her slightly with his scythes. Glancing to the side he saw Yakumo nodding at him determinedly with a template and brush in her hands.

He continued his assult at the nearly impenetrable goddess and noticed a shade of Anko placing a palm at the back of Izanami and he immediately dashed to the back of the goddess and activated Anko's death mark seal. As he activated the seal a golden kunai stabbed Izanami through the heart. The goddess growled, pulling the kunai out and healed the wound. Menma nodded to the ghost of Anko and continued to look for openings against the goddess.

As they fought, scythes against sword golden chains emerged from beside him and bound the goddess. Out of the corner of his eye he saw an image of Kushina nodding at him encouragingly. Using the opening he one again managed to cut the goddess. However as the same as last time the goddess regenerated.

Suddenly Izanami broke free from the binds and would have stabbed him if not for him disappearing in a golden flash, re-appearing behind Izanami. Looking over his shoulder he saw Minato with a hand on his shoulder encouragingly.

Izanami was shaking with rage at the insolent mortal who opposed her "How are you doing this! What is giving you this power!?"

Naruto swung his scythes down as Izanami blocked the attack. They locked themselves together and each tried to overpower the other. Out of the corner of his eyes Naruto saw Sasuke and Shio floating beside him and he answered the goddess "My friends." With strength he did not know he had he pushed the goddess away and floated next to his sister and the last Uchiha.

Naruto raised a scythe and began to pour senjutsu into the blade, making it glow green. Beside him, the spirit of Sasuke readied a brightly glowing blue spear while Shio's spirits sword glowed dangerously as they glared down at Izanami. Together they unleashed there attacks upon the goddess.

The sky lightened brilliantly as the attack connected, creating a large explosion that could be seen for miles. Izanami slammed into the base of the tree that the Juubi transformed into, toppling the massive tree into the ocean.

Naruto floated down level to the plume of smoke, hoping that was enough to end Izanami. He stared as the smoke cleared and could not help but widen his eyes in horror at the sight before him. Half of Izanami was the same as he had been fighting. But the second half was completely gone, in its place was a black blank featureless body. Soon a red eye and a manic grin formed on the previously blank face of the monster. Izanami looked down at her body before glaring at the new formed god in front of her " **N** O **w** **y** O **u** **h** A **v** E M **ad** e ME **Ang** ry MOR **tal!**

Naruto shivered at the voice of Izanami, the still human looking half spoke in a musical tone while the monster side spoke in a deep monstrous tone.

Izanagi grinned and her dark side spoke " **I will show you my true power!"**

The dark mass transformed into a perfect likeliness of Madara Uchiha " **I can use the power of any human who has died. Now do you see how truly hopeless your situation is?"**

Naruto frowned and began pouring black blood into his scythes, extending them further and flying at high speeds towards the queen of the dead. The two met in midair and they clashed once again. Their battle took them over the sea as they fought, scythes against sword.

Izanami pushed away and Madara's eternal mangekyou spun as Susanno'o emerged into existence around the transformed god. Unlike the original Madara's technique; Izanami's Susanno'o was female and wore an armored priestess outfit. The priestess readied a bow made out of black flames and began firing Amaterasu arrows at blistering speeds.

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he began rapidly dodging the arrows. As he flew closer the Raikage appeared next to him and nodded. The Konoha shinobi felt the power of lightning armor surround him as he dive bombed the giant chakra construct. In a flash of light that resembled a lightning bolt he shot through the hardened chakra and pushed Izanami out of the rapidly disappearing Sussano'o.

Izanami growled and Madara transformed into the first Hokage. The goddess smirked at her opponent "Even your ancestors betray you." The image of Hashirama formed a hand sign and roots began emerging from the ocean below them and rapidly growing to attack the floating shinobi. Onoki emerged as a spirit next to Naruto and glared at the image of his old rival before blasting the roots to dust with his bloodline limit.

(Inside Naruto's mindscape)

Kushina held a hand up to her mouth as she viewed the battle between her son and his opponent "This is…"

Minato nodded, similarly distressed "It is amazing that all of these high level attacks have yet to truly land a blow."

Sasuke stared at the image and spoke "This is a one hit battle. The first side to truly land a hit will most likely be the winner."

Shio nodded "All we can do is continue to lend our support."

(Real world)

Naruto swung his scythe down upon the goddess and cut through the image of Hashirama, turning it back to a tar like state before it transformed once again into Nagato. Izanagi grinned crazily as Nagato's arm turned into a charka cannon and fired huge blasts of chakra at her opponent.

Naruto swiftly dodge and glared down upon the sickening image of Nagato being used in such a way "How dare you spit in the face of the memories of such great men. You are not a goddess. You are nothing but a demon pretending to be god!"

Izanagi grinned as the female portion of her face cracked "A demon? Fitting I guess. After all. It was humanity who created and strengthened me! So I am nothing more than a demon god ruling over demons! And I will show you the power of the perfect example of how far humanity can fall!" The face of Nagato transformed into a beautiful white haired women with a horn that vaguely resembled a rabbit ear.

This time both Izanagi and the unkown woman spoke " **You see!? This woman nearly sacrificed the world itself for her lust for power! And your people call her the Rabbit Goddess!"**

Naruto felt his eyes widen as he gazed upon the progenitor of chakra in the human realm. Kaguya Otsutsuki. He knew she was the perfect example of how far humans could fall. But then he remembered the faces of many of his friends and reaffirmed his resolve, he knew that not all humans were evil.

Naruto scowled and flew down to engage her in kenjutsu as they continued their debate "You may have been created by the darkness in every human's heart. But I know that there is two sides to every coin. I have met Izanagi. And I know he is nothing like a demon and certainly nothing like you! He proves that humanity can rise above their innate darkness and rise to the level of angels!"

Izanagi glared harshly as more of her face cracked "Hah! Every human is born evil. Your race is nothing but a stain upon this earth. If you knew how twisted your race is then you would be begging me to destroy each and every one of you!"

Naruto was silent for a moment as they locked blades before he looked back at the two faced woman in front of him "What is better? Being born good or overcoming our evil nature through great effort? I believe it is the latter. I am proof of this. I may be evil. I may be called a devil. But at this moment I don't care. For I am the devil that fights on the side of the angels!"

Half of the bright light that radiated out of Naruto turned black as he accepted his true nature. Throughout his life he could easily have been considered evil. He had tortured, murdered, experimented and manipulated people. But he had also healed, comforted… and loved others as well. He was the perfect contradiction. A perfect example of humanity. A race with no set lines that defined if they were evil or good.

Izanagi's face was completely cracked as she gazed on Naruto's latest transformation "What is this!? How can you have energy of darkness and light! That isn't possible!"

Naruto smiled as he poured dark and light energy into both of his blades "This? This is simply humanity's accumulated potential to do good and evil! This is the power of life itself!"

In a blur of speed he slashed the dark goddess with both of his scythes, causing an explosion of energy to be released all around him. If one were to look from a great height above their position, they would see the explosion is the shape of the yin-yang symbol.

Izanagi's power fluxuated wildly as her physical form was destroyed. Naruto quickly flew away as the black mass that composed Izanami's power expanded into a huge orb, filled with the faces of the dead and the negative energy of the universe.

Naruto stared at the orb 'How can I destroy this! If I destroy it I kill off every soul to ever transcend to the afterlife. The only thing he could do was seal it back into Yami. But the power it would take… It would require the life energy of a very powerful human to accomplish.

Resigned, he knew what to do. As soon as he came to his conclusion the information how to do what he wanted came into his mind. It seemed even the world wanted him to succeed in this endeavor. Putting both his hands in a prayer motion he called upon all the culminated power of his new form and a sealing array extending around him, covering the black orb as he began to give life energy to keep the sealing process going.

(Mindscape)

Shio shouted above the crowd "No! If he does this he will die!"

Kushina and Minato could only stare in horror as their son sacrificed himself for humanity.

Shio began crying "It's not supposed to be like this! We were supposed to grow old together! Raise a family together! I love you Naruto!"

Sasuke stared at his teammate before his resolve hardened and prepared the technique he never thought he would need.

(Real World)

Naruto suddenly felt a hooking sensation before he was forcefully removed from the seal. Staring in shock at the person who took his place. Sasuke was standing before him with his hands in the same handseal that would seal Izanami as well as his own fate.

Naruto yelled across at the Uchiha "Why Sasuke!?"

Sasuke turned his head and answered "Its simple. This is all for Shio."

Naruto widened his eyes "What?!"

The former traitor of the leaf looked ahead and continued with the sealing "Shio loves you, you idiot. What do you think would happen if you died?"

The Namikaze could not accept that and shouted "But what about you! You need to restart your clan, find love, you have your entire life ahead of you!"

Sasuke's hair covered his eyes as the first tears since his family's death rolled down his face "I know that idiot. But how can I find love when the only woman who I ever love, loves another man?"

Naruto could not speak as a person he once wrote off as simply a traitor sacrificed himself. Sasuke shouted as the light began to grow brighter "Oi, take care of her will you? Make her the happiest person in the world. Will you promise me that at least?"

Naruto nodded as tears began to form in his eyes.

Sasuke nodded "Then I can die in peace. Take care of the world…Naruto."

The light turned blinding and Naruto was forced to close his eyes.

…

…..

…..

When the light died down Naruto opened his eyes to see that it was now morning. Hundreds of shinobi behind him were stirring and waking up as if they were simply asleep. As they woke up they looked around at the rising sun and began to celebrate.

The horror they had all faced had finally been defeated.

Shio walked up beside him and stared out at the sunrise and spoke softly "Sasuke…"

Naruto felt the powers he had gained from Izanagi bleed out of him, transforming him into a normal human once again "He was a hero."

"That's right." Naruto turned and saw the five Kages standing behind them, there eyes shining in gratitude. Minato stepped forward and spoke "Sasuke will be remembered forever for his heroism. Just as you will as well, Naruto."

Naruto looked away "I don't deserve any recognition."

He was surprised that Shio suddenly slapped him "Don't be a fool. You are everyone's hero even if you don't admit it. You defeated Izanami and saved the world."

Naruto looked slightly stunned as he turned to gaze at the crowd of ninjas of every nation, all chanting and cheering his name, there gratitude hitting him in waves.

Slowly he smiled and turned around and hugged Shio as the realization it was finally over. Shio grasped his cheeks and smiled happily. Naruto looked down at her and smiled before leaning down to kiss her.

(Epilogue)

(10 years later)

Naruto closed the book he had finished writing and sighed tiredly. Shio came in and smiled at her husband "Did you finish it?"

He nodded "Yeah. It feels like everything happened just yesterday..."

Shio nodded "I agree. These past few years have been so peaceful."

Before they could continue two young children ran into the room. The boy had black hair like his father but had his mother's crystal blue eyes while his sister has red hair with purple eyes. Shio looked fondly down at their two children "Sasuke, Elise, what are you doing?"

Sasuke lazily looked at his sad "Elise wanted you to read the story about your childhood again Dad."

Elise glared at her brother "You wanted him to read it too!" Immediately she shifted attention to her father "Well dad?! Will you read it to us?"

Naruto smiled and looked down at the book he had just finished "I don't see why not. But instead why don't I tell you the entire story."

The children settled down on the couple's laps as he opened the book from the beginning. Naruto coughed once before speaking "There once was a lonely child who lived in the village. His name…was Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze."

( **End)**

 **AN: Omg that was so hard! I hope I have met everyone's expectations with this last chapter. However before I give my final message for this story I would like to give some special thanks to:**

 **Buterflypuss**

 **Swordmanwielder**

 **Waldo Santiago**

 **These three have commented on nearly, if not all, of my chapters and have been so supportive. I want to extend my thanks, seeing your names saying nice things about my story after each chapter, good or bad, was always very motivating.**

 **And everyone else who has commented on my story. You have all been amazing as I have written this story. I am happy to have been able to provide a good story for every to read and enjoy. But do not worry, I will definitely continue to write. Speaking of which…**

 **Stay alert for my next story: The Sorcerer.**


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